WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES AUGUST 3, 2017 19
Community helps rescue abandoned cats
trapped in a Ridgewood apartment
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AGIUDICE@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@A_GIUDICEREPORT
When residents of Ridgewood
heard that there were dozens
of cats trapped inside
of an apartment building, they came
together to try and save the abandoned
felines before even more of them were
injured or killed.
Over the weekend, local rescuers
went to the three-story building at 778
Onderdonk Ave., which is presently
under construction, in an attempt to
lure out some of the approximately 40
cats they believe were trapped in the
rubble. According to one of the rescuers,
Becky Bernazal, the previous
tenant of the third fl oor unit ditched
the cats when she was off ered a buyout
on her apartment in early July.
Construction began shortly after
she left , Bernazal said, adding that “the
construction people were working for almost
three weeks with the cats in there.”
“We found out from workers doing
demolition there,” Dolores Benefatti, a
resident of Madison Street in Ridgewood
who aided in the rescue eff ort, told QNS
in a phone interview on Wednesday.
“The neighborhood people found out
from passing by and they heard cries,
and one person saw a cat jump out of a
dumpster. We went in to the building
with lanterns one night and that’s when
we discovered this whole mess.”
Aft er rescuing several of the cats on
their own, Benefatti reached out to the
American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) for help
removing the scared, emaciated, and
injured cats and fi nding them homes,
but to no avail.
“It’s been a horror,” she said.
Now, Animal Care & Control (ACC)
is overseeing the rescue eff orts.
“Animal control has taken over,”
Benefatti explained. “They got one cat
on Monday and fi ve cats Tuesday.
They set traps and will come back on
Wednesday to get more.”
As rescue efforts continue, the
felines are still in need of homes and
local organizations such as Bushwick
Street Cats and A Tail of Two Kitties
are searching for people to adopt these
rescued cats.
Photos courtesy of Becky Bernazal
Residents of Ridgewood helped rescue some cats that were found inside
the rubble of construction at 778 Onderdonk Ave.
A patriotic musical hatches in Glendale & Middle Village
This weekend, the JC Players
will open their production
of “1776,” the acclaimed
Broadway musical that tells the
story of the events surrounding
the creation of our nation’s Declaration
of Independence. The musical,
created by Sherman Edwards and
Peter Stone, is directed by Barbara
Auriemma, with music directed by
Frank Auriemma and choreography
by Christine Hinz. The cast includes
Frank B. Auriemma, Annice Auriemma,
Austin Auriemma, Alicia
Brosky, Guy Caraturo, Miriam
Denu, Alison Duignan, Amy Ellis,
Elizabeth Grumley, Drew Harnady,
Charles Hinz, Charles P. Hinz, Christine
Hinz, Beatrice Holman, Julia
Marshall, Scott Marshall, Richard
Miller, Alan Perkins, Dennis Popp,
Melanie Pozarycki, Jennifer Silverman,
Jillian Smith, Steve Stromberg
and Mark York. Performances will
take place Friday and Saturday
nights, Aug. 4-5, at Glendale/Maspeth
United Methodist Church and
on Sunday, Aug. 6, Saturday, Aug. 12
and Sunday, Aug. 13, at Community
United Methodist Church in Middle
Village. For ticket information, visit
www.jcplayers.com.
