Kittens Find Home at City Hall

The furry friends will take up residency on the second floor and, perhaps, in the South Pasadena Police Department

PHOTO: Bill Glazier | Southpasadenan.com News | South Pasadena Chief City Clerk Marc Donohue and City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe hold a kittens the city adopted from the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA.

It will soon be home sweet home for a pair of kittens ­– yes, two adorable furry friends – that will take up residency at South Pasadena City Hall.

Kittens living at City Hall? Oh, why not, say a couple of top executives working daily under the same roof.

On a monthly basis, a staff member from the Pasadena Humane Society & SPCA attends a South Pasadena City Council meeting looking to find a permanent home for a dog or cat brought from the shelter. Following the usual ooooohs and ahhhhhs, both the council and Humane Society official hope someone in the audience or watching on television from home will find the desire to adopt one of the cuddly creatures.

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PHOTO: Bill Glazier | SouthPasadenan.com | Jack Hagerman, left, vice president of communications for the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA, is joined by South Pasadena Chief City Clerk Marc Donohue and City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe. The city adopted two kittens from the Humane Society that will live inside City Hall.

However, during a recent council session, City Manager Stephanie DeWolfe and Chief City Clerk Marc Donohue surprisingly announced after Jack Hagerman, the Pasadena Human Society’s vice president of communications, showed a pair of kittens that the city’s executive team will adopt them.

“It’s been proven that cats lower blood pressure, lower stress rate, and we feel like we want some cats at City Hall,” said DeWolfe.

Donahue expects their arrival next Tuesday and says they’ll spend most of their time on the second floor in City Management Services or occasionally in the city’s Police Department. DeWolfe and Donahue said the public will likely help come up with names for the kittens through social media. “We’ll put their pictures up (on Facebook) because you have to see them in order to name them,” explained the city manager.

PHOTO: Bill Glazier | SouthPasadenan.com | Jack Hagerman, vice president of communications for the Pasadena Humane Society and SPCA, holds two kittens that have been adopted by the City of South Pasadena. They will reside inside City Hall.

During the council meeting, Hagerman, caught completely off guard by the unexpected announcement, said it was a first for a City Hall to accept an animal from the agency “This has not happened in my career,” he said, shaking his head, laughing at the thought.

“It’s not completely unheard of,” DeWolfe explained after the meeting. “There are a lot of cats in libraries, and police departments frequently have them. But no one has done sort of a City Hall cat. They just have such a positive, calming effect on people, either our staff or people coming into the building.”

DeWolfe pointed out that the Humane Society has a large surplus of kittens this time of year and insisted they all need homes.

“Why would we not adopt them?” she asked

Yeah, why not? And so they did, insisting City Hall will suddenly become a better place.