They’re famous for guarding snacks, charming customers and keeping pests away, and now New York’s beloved bodega cats could soon get official protection of their own.
A bill moving through the state legislature would establish health and safety standards for cats living in retails stores.
Lidia Aguabia works at the flower stand at Clinton Fruit Market on 47th and Ninth Avenue in Hell’s Kitchen. Her partner in crime is the bodega’s resident cat, Pancha.
“Animals are love, animals are happiness and animals have to be a responsibility for everyone,” Aguabia said.
Pancha and the rest of the city’s likely thousands of bodega cats are the reason behind a proposed bill in the state legislature that would establish official health and safety guidelines for cats living in retail food stores.
That includes standards like regular vet check-ups, vaccines and designated “cat zones” separate from food prep areas.
Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, who represents the Upper West Side, introduced the bill last spring and it was moved to the Agriculture Committee just this month.
“If you adopt an animal from the shelter, they have to be spayed or neutered,” Rosenthal said. “You know, no telling where those kitties come from that live in bodegas. But just to make sure they work, keeping mice and other vermin away, but they should also have access to a good place to rest, good food, water.”
This proposal is separate from city legislation introduced last year that would ease enforcement for stores with cats – which, under current health codes, are technically not allowed.
For New Yorkers who love bodega cats, they hope if the bill passes, the state will make it easy for small business owners to pay for health care.
Hearings and votes will still need to happen before anything becomes a law.
One thing’s for sure though, the cats aren’t going anywhere – it’s just a question of if and how they will be regulated.
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