We wrote about the meeting with the association and Piotr Roman’s words summarizing it in the article The problem of homeless cats in Bolesławiec. Will there be a shelter in the former police station? At the swimming pools?
“I don’t know whether the mayor did it maliciously on purpose to discourage people from our work, from us and from the animals?” says Bogusława Mikołajczak. “People are now turning against the animals and us. Besides, you can see from the comments under the article what the comments are like and what people think about it. I would like the mayor to withdraw what he said and correct it,” adds the volunteer from the Animal Assistance Association.
The Animal Assistance Association has been operating for approximately 15 years and is an organization made up exclusively of women, most often seniors. The women pay out of their own pockets for many tasks connected with the difficult care, treatment and capture of homeless cats. Their work is voluntary. There are half a thousand homeless cats in Bolesławiec—those that have been counted—and the municipality is obliged to feed, sterilize, neuter and treat this army of animals and help them when they are injured.
The women from the association only asked for a room where sick or post-sterilization cats could recover.
“I live near the police station,” explained Bogusława Mikołajczak. “The police moved out, and beside it there is a room that used to be the police canteen, with a completely separate entrance. There is no need to use the entire police building; it can be accessed through the side entrance, but the mayor said ‘no’ to this proposal because a shop for the poor is planned there. A colleague saw that demolition work was under way at the swimming pools [on Spacerowa Street —editor’s note] and asked whether some room could be set aside there. No, because the mayor is supposed to receive 30 million and will not give up those millions, as he is to build a swimming pool there,” the woman adds.
What hurt the women from the association most, however, was that the mayor publicly mentioned a shelter.
“The mayor spoke about a shelter. ‘Shelter’ sounds completely different,” a representative of the Animal Assistance Association says in the interview. “We want a facility, a room, several square meters with access to running water and electricity. Sick cats, cats with infectious diseases and cats after sterilization will be staying there,” she adds.