TIVERTON – A section of Bajah’s Cat Cafe was unexpectedly closed indefinitely Friday, with the owner under investigation for inappropriately rescuing cats without a license.
“I couldn’t stop fostering cats because people would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, I have this cat, please help me,’ and I don’t know how to say no.” , said owner Amanda Souza in a post on the site. the cafe’s Facebook page Friday afternoon. “It’s my mistake.”
Souza explained on Facebook Live that the cafe was working with the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the state Department of Environmental Management and other related agencies after it was discovered she had taken in cats without a rescue license. which Souza claimed in the video she was seeking. The video recorded during the Facebook Live posted on December 13 has since been deleted from the cafe’s Facebook page.
Souza’s Cat Cafe, which opened in 2021, has a shelter license that allows the organization to house cats from the Forever Paws animal shelter in Fall River, Massachusetts. However, Souza admitted to taking in additional animals when asked. Souza said the situation arose during an outbreak of upper respiratory infection among the cafe’s cats, leading one of the employees to claim that cats were dying and that a file had to be opened at the RISPCA.
Souza is licensed to operate the cafe portion of her business, but 17 of the cats were seized by the RISPCA.
How Bajah’s Cat Café started
Souza opened Bajah’s Cat Cafe in August 2021 and was set up with two separate rooms, one where the cats housed and the cafe, which served drinks, breakfast sandwiches and pastries. Souza said she got the idea to open the cat cafe two years ago when she visited one in Portland, Maine.
In the cafe’s first five months in business, Souza told the Daily News she helped nearly 70 cats find homes.
2024-12-13 21:39:36
