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Oregon Cat Can Stay; Hamsters Must Go

Agie the cat can continue to live at the Willamina (Oreg.) Public Library, the city council decided January 12, but hamsters Othello and Hamlet have to find new homes. The council made an exception for Agie to its December 8 decision banning nonservice animals from public buildings.

About 450 people signed a petition asking to keep the cat, and 60 residents attended the council’s January 12 meeting to support Agie, according to the January 14 Salem Statesman Journal. In addition, concerns about liability costs were calmed when the city’s insurance company said that Agie is already included in the city’s liability coverage. The council decided to keep its animal ban in place but grandfathered in Agie, who has lived at the library for eight years.

“I think Agie belongs here, prowling around the library,” Library Director Melissa Hansen told the Statesman Journal. “I think she knows the books better than I do.”

Posted January 20, 2006.

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