Cat woman in court

March 2, 2011  

A BRITISH pensioner has been taken to court in a bid to save a dozen stray cats she has been caring for.

Retired school teacher Valerie June Strahinja, 68, is being sued over her care of the street cats for the past two years.

Working with local charity ADANA, she has even had many of them sterilized at a great cost to herself.

But the animal lover, who has lived in Estepona for 15 years, has faced opposition from other residents in the Ronda en el Mar urbanization, who have repeatedly reported the cats to the authorities.

In the latest clash she has been forced to hide the animals after the local authorities sent in an agency to kill them.

“It is a horror story,” said Strahinja. “They were going to take them away even though they have been sterilized. It didn’t stop them killing the last remaining cat who I found this weekend next to a bag of rat poison. The animal was in severe and terrible pain and although I took it immediately to the vet, the young cat couldn’t be saved and died a horrible death.”