San Pedro Resident Helps Tiny, Furry Community Members

If Gina Lumbruno had been anyone else, she would have had a gun to her neck.

A Port Police officer told her this while she was attempting to show him the traps she uses to catch stray cats. 

On Jan. 20, Lumbruno was confronted by Officer Aldo Morales and Officer Stacey Creech at lots E and F on the property of the Port of Los Angeles. She was feeding cats at the time and the officers tried to discourage her from doing so.

Lumbruno said that she doesn’t just feed them, she traps them as well. Morales asked to see the traps.

“I turned around to show him the traps in my car,” Lumbruno said. “I went to open the door, and the next thing I know, he comes rushing over, he’s like at the back of my neck. And he said to me, right in my neck, ‘You’re lucky that I don’t see you as a threat, because if you were anybody else, my gun would be in your neck.’”

Lumbruno said that Creech told her this was how people got shot by police, by going to get guns from their cars. Lumbruno said she does not own a gun.

Morales continued to argue with Lumbruno for several minutes, and before he and Creech left, he said that he would give her a ticket if he saw her feeding the cats again.

“I’m out there trying to help, you know, help the hopeless, these poor animals,” Lumbruno said. “It’s just so sad. And here, the Port Police are giving out tickets and they’re calling it littering because there is no ticket for feeding cats.”

Lumbruno confronted Creech about it at the June 15 meeting of the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council.

“There was no one ever in danger of getting shot in the neck,” Creech said.

Lumbruno recorded the conversation, but did not issue a formal complaint with the Port Police until June. Since then, the Port Police have interviewed her multiple times about the incident. The Port Police are conducting an internal investigation based on her complaint, said Lt. Philip Heem.

Life Mission

Lumbruno began caring for stray cats about two years ago, but in that time has re-homed hundreds of cats. She also feeds them and traps them so that she can bring them to the vet for neutering, or any other medical care they require.

“I do the best I can,” Lumbruno said. “Everything comes out of my own pocket, my time … it’s like a life mission. It’s kind of a love-hate thing, it really is a lot of work.”

Lumbruno’s involvement with strays started when she found a severely injured cat in her parking lot. She brought it to the vet and found out about other people who helped cats.

“I couldn’t find where it came from,” Lumbruno said. “But I did find a couple people that were taking care of cat colonies that looked like my cat, so that’s kind of how I got involved.”

Despite her encounter with Port Police, Lumbruno still feeds three cats that live in lots E and F. It’s a large, open space without many human visitors, with lots of thick, tall grass that hides them well. There used to be seven cats; Lumbruno found homes for four of them, but these were simply too wild.

Lumbruno isn’t the only person overseeing the well being of San Pedro’s feral felines. She said she is among about 10 people who have taken on this responsibility, but emphasized that they do not operate as a formal group.

“We all have our little areas that we work on,” Lumbruno said. “And we’ll help each other out. And if somebody’s sick, or on vacation or whatever, we’ll feed [their cats]. And we also help trap, because it’s hard to trap by yourself.”

Lumbruno gets some funding from a nonprofit called Healing Arts Haven for Animals, which pays when the cats need vet visits, including neutering. Everything else comes out of her own pocket.

“I pay for all the food, and whatever else they need,” Lumbruno said. “And they eat a lot, because when they’re out there running around … they burn up a lot of calories.”

Lumbruno also feeds two cats that live around The Whale & Ale parking lot, as well as a group of seven cats in the parking lot of Kalaveras — two of the seven have already been fixed. Lumbruno can tell because the tip of one ear has been clipped in both, which is a way of marking strays that are fixed. They are part of something Lumbruno calls a colony.

“A colony is usually one or two cats that have either been dumped, or came from another area,” Lumbruno said. “They’ve either gotten run out by another colony of cats, or they’re dumped, or lost, and they just kind of establish a little living area.”

Oftentimes another cat will join and have kittens with the existing cats. Then those kittens grow up and have their own kittens, and their kittens will reproduce as well.

“It’s terrible; it’s a vicious cycle,” Lumbruno said. “It’s from us; it’s from humans. … They’re not wild animals, they’re not out there by themselves. They’re out there because they were either dumped or lost.”

Lumbruno uses a three-step process called trap, neuter and return, or TNR, for feral cats. After capturing a cat, Lumbruno and others will assess how tame it is. If it is really feral, it would not be able to live as a pet.

“Sometimes we just have to put them back in the area,” Lumbruno said. “Like the ones in The Whale & Ale parking lot; I have not been able to find a spot for those two.”

There are places that will care for feral cats, but they tend to be very expensive, costing about $3,500 to $4,000 per cat. The money covers food and medical bills for the rest of the cat’s life.

She usually has no trouble finding homes for kittens. Even if they are born feral, if they are caught young, they are easily domesticated.

Not everyone Lumbruno has encountered while taking care of cats has been supportive.

“A lot of people hate cats,” Lumbruno said. “They hate that you feed the feral cats and they just want it to go away, and they don’t care.”