There used to be feral cats in the basements of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
They were put there long ago to control the mice and rat population.
I have no idea if they are still there or not.
D.C. has lots of rats. Both the 2 and four legged kind.
When I went to work at the Shoreham in 1977 it was reported in the Ear Gossip section of the old Washington Star that a guy working in the Steward's Dept. was shooting the cats with an air rifle.
So the SPCA came and put in cages to catch the cats but it did not work.
I used to see and hear the cats in the basements. They would crawl around on the heating ducts to stay warm. If you were not careful they would jump down from the pipes and pull your hair.
I found a group of kittens one night mewling behind a large freezer. I took one home for my children thinking it would be domesticated by the time it grew up.
It did not work. The kitty would crawl in the beds of our children at night and pull their hair.
I had to get rid of that cat and get a tame one.
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