Library Cat Retired…or Evicted?
In this Agatha Christie whodunit, the city council did it
At the Willamina city library in Oregon, Agatha Christie isn’t a mystery. She’s the beloved, 14-year-old library cat, who’s still performing her official functions, nuzzling readers, snoozing on shelves and listening as young people occasionally read to her.
“She’s the library greeter,” said Willamina librarian Denise Willms. “She’s got people who come from Portland on their way to the coast to see her. She gets Christmas cards.”
But Agie is heading into retirement. At a recent meeting of the city council, council members voted to ban all animals except service animals from public buildings.
This is the second time Agie has been ousted from the library. The city council voted the same ban five years ago, but gave in to a flood of local, state and national buzz, and exempted Agie from the rule.
The new vote comes on the heels of a complaint from a woman who said her grandchild had been scratched and bitted by Agie. Librarian Willms said she was surprised to hear this. Agie, she said, never done anything like that before.
Head librarian Melissa Hansen was equally surprised. “She is the most laid back cat there is,” said Hansen. “She’s been declawed and she hardly has any teeth. She has to eat soft food.”
Regardless, the decision was made, and a local couple has agreed to give Agie a new home where the senior citizen will be cared for and pampered.
A farewell party has been scheduled for November 20, 2010.
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Read about Dewey, perhaps the most famous of all library cats, here.
And there’s more about Library Cats.