'Incinerator Cats' Seek Loving Homes

JACKSON, Mich. (WWJ) - About 15 to 20 cats and kittens who have been living inside a trash incinerator facility will soon face eviction.

At the Jackson County Recovery Facility, administrative assistant Mark Cole says the felines have inhabited the building since they just started showing up about five years ago — but the site is shortly slated to shut down for good.

The flame went out at the incinerator a few weeks ago, but the facility will remain open until it is decommissioned in December.

Cole says with winter approaching, there's a desperate need to find loving homes for the cats. He believe they wouldn't be able to survive on their own.

"Unfortunately, it wouldn't be good," Cole told WWJ Newsradio 950's Kathryn Larson. "I mean, the facility is set near mild wilderness where they could hunt, but they're a domestic cat; they're not trained to survive in the wilderness.

Cole says the felines — some striped and most gray or orange — are well-tempered and anything but feral.

He fears the cats will be euthanized if they're taken to the already over-packed Jackson County Animal Shelter,;and he's hoping more members of the public will come out, see the cats, and consider taking one home.

"We've had a call from a farmer already who said they would like to pick up a couple for their ranch." Cole said. "And we're working with Jackson County Cascades Humane Society to take the cats in that we do have and have they spayed and neutered so we will at least be able to do that before we leave also."

For more information about the cats or to adopt one, call Cole at 517-788-4008.