A colony of cats in Hoxton is facing an uncertain future, with developers planning to demolish their current home.
Around 16 feral cats live in a disused factory off Hackney Road in Hoxton, and have been there for at least a decade.
The cats now face eviction, as Regal Homes – a luxury housing developer – is planning to demolish the site. The developers hope to create a new complex of apartments and offices.
The Hoxton Cat Club – a group of five regular feeders and a handful of occasional helpers – care for the cats alongside the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, which has previously arranged for them to be neutered and chipped.
Ceren Sonmez, 26, who works for the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, said that she hopes that the upheaval of finding a new home will not cause any distress to the cats. “We’re just hoping that [Regal Homes] will be cooperative and give us plenty of time to catch the cats – that’s the most important thing”, she said.
Catching the cats in advance of the construction work will not be easy, Ms Sonmez said, adding that “we don’t anticipate that we’ll catch every single one, but we’ll do our very best.”
The Trust is yet to find a new home for the cats, and Ms Sonmez described the difficulties of rehoming feral cats. “Human touch is completely foreign” to these cats, she said, meaning that they cannot be adopted into a domestic setting.
A spokesperson for the developer said: “Regal Homes will be working with the appropriate experts to remove feral cats from our development site. We want to ensure they are humanely removed from the site, cared for and appropriately re-homed before work is scheduled to start on our development.”
Hackney Council has not yet approved Regal Homes’ planning application for the site, but the plans have been accepted in the two stages of public consultation.
Writer and journalist, currently at City, University of London.