Volunteers have cared for the cats since 2014, according to WBAL News Radio , and feral colonies have lived on the Spring Grove property since the late 1980s. Laura Bergstrom, who works with the group, told WBAL-TV 11 News that the notice requires Cats on the Grove to stop operations within 90 days and encourages trapping and removing all remaining animals. “In 90 days' time, we are supposed to cease operations,” the notice states, per that account
Bergstrom said the group has spent years feeding the cats, meeting their medical needs, building and maintaining shelters, and managing the population — work she said volunteers are reluctant to abandon. “We don't want to leave the cats behind that we've worked so hard, for years, to help,” she told the outlet. Fellow volunteer Christy Menter said the cats have grown so accustomed to the humans who feed them that they recognize individual volunteers and their cars and know when they've arrived
Baltimore County Animal Services director Rene Varela said the notice to comply identifies a number of issues, with public safety chief among the reasons the colony needs to be removed. Varela pointed specifically to the cats' interactions with raccoons drawn to the feeding stations, noting that a raccoon lured by the food had bitten a volunteer. Reducing the cat population, he said, would help address that risk