Cats rescued from North Hollywood after threats from nearby workers

LOS ANGELES - Seven cats have been rescued from an apartment complex in North Hollywood, after a neighbor received threats that the cats would be trapped and killed.

Debby Driscoll lives near a colony of cats that's been growing around an apartment complex in the NoHo Arts District. She started feeding the cats a few months ago, but was met with hostility by workers there.

"I came one day and they replaced teh water with ammonia," Driscoll said. "On the second day, I came back and they had replaced the places I fed them on with this dinner plate with a really nasty message.

"Dead cats don't eat," the note read. "If you continue feeding cats on or near this property, we will pay to have them trapped and euthanized — killed — starting tomorrow. Help us lure them in cat lady and they will die and it will be your fault."

Driscoll said she immediately took the plate to the North Hollywood Police Station, but "they said they could only do something if they found a dead, deceased cat."

Driscoll took to social media, and got in touch with Jen Knight, who runs Del Gato Rescue.

The group helps get stray cats up to date on their shots, find them foster homes and adopters, and participates in TNR — trap, neuter, release — to get the animals fixed.

Knight and her partner Donald Tran were concerned about the threat in North Hollywood. Together they trapped seven cats who all turned out to be adoptable. 

"I knew that there was a lot of hostility towards the cats here," said Knight. "So we wanted to jump in to try and rescue any cats that we could get out of here to hopefully save them from being abused or killed."