Speaking of international, I took this cat's pic near Disneyland's It's A Small World attraction, back in 2009. Awww...sorry for the bright camera flash, kitty!
And I took this pic near California Adventure's Grizzly River Rapids, in 2015. This cat's name is officially (or I guess, unofficially), "Francisco." Francisco is a very friendly cat and will sometimes come right up to guests, to be petted.
Knott's Berry Farm has it's own feline population. These first two pics were taken just outside of the Western Trails Museum, in Ghost Town.
And this shy kitty cat was hiding in the bushes, near Ghost Town's Boot Hill Cemetery.
Even Japanese amusement parks have their own feline residents. I took this pic at Tokyo Dome City, in 2009.
Several years ago, there was an article in The Los Angeles Times, about Disneyland's feline population, and "Francisco" was actually named in the article. Knott's Berry Farm's cats got a brief mention, as well.
I have my own personal cat story, from when I used to work at Knott's Berry Farm. Back then, the cats were rarely visible to guests or employees, during the day. After the park closed, we would sometimes get a glimpse of one running out from under one building, over to another. There weren't any feeding stations for the cats, and we were told that management only let them hang around, because they helped keep the rat population down.
One night, in December of 1988....the day after Christmas to be exact, it was late and the park was going to be closing in about an hour. Suddenly, a black cat walked out into the middle of Ghost Town, and started crying out. She came right up to a couple friends/coworkers of mine and even let them pick her up. She was super skinny, to the point where you could see the outline of her rib cage. We really believed that she was "crying out for help."
It was very cold and the temperature was supposed to drop below freezing that night, so my friends were going to secretly lock her inside of "The Original Berry Stand" overnight, and leave her with some chicken strips. One of them was working early the next morning, so they would have been able to let her out without anyone else knowing she had been in there.
Well, it just so happened that our family cat had passed away, two months earlier. She was 20 years old, and had been a part of the family since I was 4 years old. At that time, we had made the decision not to run out and adopt another cat right away. This cat, presenting herself the way that she did, sort of made me feel like it was happening for a reason. So, I took her home with me.
I did wonder if security would stop me as I tried to leave the park with her, and say something like, "Hey, you can't take that cat......that's Knott's property!" I really would not have been surprised if they did. So, I put the cat inside of my employee jacket (while I was wearing it!), snapped it up to the top snap, and attempted to smuggle her out.
Surprisingly, she was completely comfortable (and probably warm) inside my jacket and she didn't even scratch me, or attempt to escape. However, she did not like being completely hidden inside there, so she stuck her head out the top and kept craning it around so she could see where we were going. I could not get her to duck down, even at that moment when we were walking past security. I never made eye contact with the security guard, so I don't know if he saw her or not, but we made it to the car, and she made the journey home with me, where she proceeded to live out a nice, long, pampered life.
Here is a photo of her, taken not too long after she had been brought home and "fattened up" a bit.
And here's a pic of her about a year later, taking possession of a piece of notebook paper that had dropped onto the floor.
I hope everyone enjoyed my (long) cat story! I'll end here, with a couple pics from when "Grumpy Cat" (R.I.P.!) visited Disneyland, back in 2013.
A very happy International Cat Day, to all the cat lovers out there!
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