'Allergy risk' Walthamstow cat faces eviction from ambulance station home of 16 years

Defib the Cat on an ambulance
-Credit: (Image: Save Defib the Cat)


The London Ambulance Service is facing backlash after trying to evict a much-loved cat from Walthamstow Ambulance Station. Defib has been a familiar sight at the Grove Park Avenue base for 16 years after being adopted by paramedics when he was just a kitten.

The black and white feline now risks losing the only bed he's ever known after a change in management dubbed him an infection control and allergy risk. The London Ambulance Service (LAS) also said in a statement that the decision to find him a 'worthy retirement home' is down to 'several near misses in being run over by ambulances' as he's gotten older.

A petition set up to stop him being rehomed has now garnered over 10,000 signatures in just two days. The organiser, who does not wish to be named, told MyLondon that staff think it's heartless to move the elderly cat after so much time in one place.

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They said: "The reasons given just don't make a lot of sense. There's a concern about allergies but if that's true then paramedics can't do their jobs as they have to go into people's houses. He doesn't run in front of ambulances as the paramedics all know he's there. He lets out an almighty yelp to let you know."

Walthamstow Ambulance Station
Defib is cared for by paramedics taking their break at the ambulance base -Credit:Google Maps

Walthamstow's MP Stella Creasy has also got involved and urged the Secretary of State for Health & Social Care to raise the issue. In an X post, she said: "Defib the Cat facing a no fault eviction from Walthamstow’s ambulance base - hard to see why given he’s lived there for 16 years happily and helps staff cope with a stressful job. Perhaps Wes Streeting, if you are feline the staff’s pain you could have a word with London Ambulance Service."

This is the second time Defib has faced being put out. London Ambulance Service attempted to move him elsewhere a few years ago but staff forged an agreement to keep him thanks in part to his therapeutic nature.

He is fed and cared for by paramedics taking their break at the station, with staff even creating a check-in and cuddle rota during the national lockdown. London Ambulance Service said: “We’re exploring some options so that he can go to a loving home that is more suitable for a cat his age than an operational ambulance station, and we are very much thinking of this as Defib’s own retirement plan from the LAS.

"The Service is very supportive of therapy animals for improving staff health, and they regularly come to our sites." If you would like to sign the Save Defib the Cat petition, you can do so here.

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