JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Renters say stray cats are common at Tree House Apartments, but a tenant tells Action News Jax that one of those cats got stuck behind a wall for her unit and now she’s been hearing it for days.
“I come home, I hear a cat noise,” Gracie Clark, resident at Tree House Apartments.
Gracie Clark has heard an unusual cry for help within her walls for 3 days now.
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“The cat has been crying all night. I’m not getting any sleep. Somebody has to come out here and get this cat out of the wall before it starts dying,” said Clark.
Gracie has lived at the Tree House apartment for 5 years. She wasn’t sure what to do when she started hearing the cats’ cries on Tuesday.
She called JSO, who put her in touch with animal control and then JFRD. But she quickly learned that none of these agencies can help her or the cat in this situation.
“They heard the cat, but they can’t get to the cat, just like I can’t get to it. They can’t tear down walls because it is an apartment complex, so they couldn’t do that,” said Clark.
Jacksonville Fire Rescue officials say they cannot tear a hole in the wall without apartment management approval. When I spoke to the apartment manager on Thursday, she didn’t want to go on camera and didn’t want us on the property.
But she did say they made efforts to lure the cat out by making two holes in the wall and placing tuna nearby, but Clark says the hole wasn’t made by the apartment manager.
Still, Clark says she needs more done as she and her neighbors have tried for days to get the cat out from behind the wall. Now it’s not even clear if the cat will survive if it’s stuck there much longer.
“That they need to be more concerning about people and animals. I mean, would you want your animal to be in a wall somewhere just crying, crying, crying, no water, no food, no nothing, dying,” said Clark.
JFRD returned to the apartment on Thursday using thermal imaging cameras in an effort to locate the kitten.
They say the property manager said they hired a separate service to try to get the cat out. Clark says she hasn’t seen that service come to help locate the cat yet.
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