In a statement posted on Facebook, Visible Women said: “While we initially hoped Susie could inspire the cat in the Sylvia Townsend Warner statue, the sculpture was always created from photographs, making a precise likeness impossible.
“Recent comments have caused upset and, as a charity, we feel it’s best to separate all ties. The cat is now simply a generic cat.”
Sylvia Townsend Warner was a contemporary of Virginia Woolf and lived in Dorset with her long-term partner, Valentine Ackland, in the early 20th Century.
In the planning application for the statue, Dorchester Civic Society said: “Despite her remarkable contributions, her name is rarely mentioned and remains absent from Dorset’s literary landscape.”