Officials with Hawthorne Race Course have issued a press release after an article regarding feral cats in the track’s backstretch was published online this past weekend.
The article explains that cat lover Carrie Gobernatz has been caring for roughly 40 wild felines in the track’s backstretch for the past seven years.
In the past, officials with the track had allowed Gobernatz to have broader access to the backstretch, which is private property, in order to take care of the cats. Gobernatz was recently told by track officials that she was only allowed to tend to the wild felines in two particular spots in the backstretch.
Gobernatz states that she cannot properly tend to some of the cats due to the imposed restrictions.
In response to the article, which painted Hawthorne in a negative light, track officials released the following announcement on Tuesday, November 3.
Regarding Wild (Feral) Cats Near Hawthorne Race Course Barns
As a centre of agribusiness, Hawthorne Race Course, much like all horseracing facilities across the nation, has wild animals that are attracted to its barns. Given Hawthorne’s location within an urban setting this includes feral—wild—cats. For several years, Hawthorne has allowed a local community activist named Carrie Gobernatz to access its private property to care for these wild cats. Ms. Gobernatz continues to have daily access to Hawthorne’s private property, and has, in fact, fed these wild animals without interruption.
In recent months Ms. Gobernatz has placed food throughout the barn areas attracting non-feline wild animals including skunks, possums, rats and raccoons. These animals pose a serious health risk to Thoroughbred race horses as they are likely to carry diseases which are communicable to horses. Several horse owners and trainers have approached Hawthorne with concerns about the health of their animals. A virus outbreak in a Thoroughbred racehorse population can result in a quarantine of the entire facility, a suspension of racing and thus a loss of jobs and income for hundreds of small businesses.
We operate in a highly regulated industry and have a legal, statutory obligation to provide a safe and secure facility for licensed race horses, their owners and their caregivers. Hawthorne often hosts as many as 2,100 horses and thousands of licensed professionals on its backstretch (barn area). Ms. Gobernatz is not licensed to be on Hawthorne’s backstretch.
Nonetheless, we empathize with Ms. Gobernatz’s cause and we met with her recently to discuss these concerns. At this meeting it was determined that she would continue to be allowed access to the facility once per day to provide care and food to the wild cats, but that she must only provide food in (2) areas that we designated as safe to do so. Ms. Gobernatz agreed to these conditions and has provided care within these guidelines. However, recently Ms. Gobernatz has again tried to leave food throughout our facility, raising new concerns from horse owners, trainers and State Veterinarians.
Hawthorne has been a stalwart business member of the community for more than 100 years. We have been working with the Villages of Stickney and Cicero, as well as the Illinois Dept. of Agriculture and the Illinois Racing Board to address the concern of wild cats on our property. These organizations are well aware of our intentions and our compassion for these animals and have praised our efforts as such. Our guidelines have been very reasonable but Ms. Gobernatz’s demands for more access and her accusations against our company’s character are counter-productive to finding a solution that will benefit these animals.
We appreciate and share the compassion that many have for these animals. Please know that we are working with local animal control authorities and rescue facilities to relocate and care for these wild animals.
(With files from examiner.com and Hawthorne Race Course)