For many of the the folks of Portland, Oregon who frequent the Southeast Portland Safeway, seeing him has become an expectation, something they look forward to. And now, he is not allowed to enter the store at all.
Seems that someone at Safeway wasn’t too happy with the cat’s meanderings and having been questioned by media as to the cause for his banishment. Safeway has not yet responded.
Cecil is so popular he has his own fan page in Facebook. Administrator, Vincent Barbarino, has posted two calls for action on the page. One, to sign a petition at change.org encouraging the store to allow Cecil’s return to the store and the other, asking citizens to take their own cats into the store as part of a protest effort.
If Cecil must stay away from the food products that’s one thing, but many feel as though he shouldn’t be banned from visiting the store altogether.
Cecil is by no means a stray. He actually lives across the street with his own humans. Allison Traynor discovered this when she called the phone number on Cecil’s tag, concerned that he was lost. No one picked up the phone, but a message stated if the person was calling about the cat not to worry …
“Cecil just likes hanging out at the store and will find his way home when he’s done.”
One Safeway patron, Ivo Bourgeois, believes that Cecil adds a little something extra fun to the shopping experience. He and others actually look for the feline while picking up necessities as if looking for an old friend. Many take photos of him to post on their personal social media pages. Others actually buy additional kitty treats while at the store for their own cats just to have some tidbits to share with Cecil on their way out of the store.
He showed up again on Monday evening ready for his daily photo shoot.
We here at The Best Cat Page will continue to follow this story with any “mew developments.” Or you can follow the story yourself here: Let Cecil the cat back in Safeway plz
