Founder of animal rescue centre says negotiating access to 2012 site has been 'ghastly'

Celia Hammond, the woman behind the animal trust that has rescued more than 170 cats from the Olympic site, has described the experience of working with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) as 鈥渁wful鈥� and 鈥済hastly鈥�.

As part of a video interview with 黑洞社区TV this week, Hammond said she was pleased the ODA had granted her team of seven access to the site to carry out cat rescues, which are now in their final stages. But she said the access had been limited and had come four months too late.

Hammond, founder of the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, said: 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful for what we鈥檝e got and we have a reasonable relationship [with the ODA] now.鈥�

She said it had taken three to four months to negotiate an agreement to gain proper access to the site in late October. By this time the demolition work had begun and many of the stray cats that had been reported had disappeared.

She said: 鈥淚t has been the most awful and ghastly six months in the 40 years I have been going on construction sites. I have never ever had such an experience.鈥�

She said: 鈥淚f we had just been given access while the buildings were still standing for six to eight weeks we could have got every cat out and it would have been done and dusted.鈥�

Bovis Lend Lease and Morrisons, two contractors working on site, were singled out for praise by Hammond.

She said Bovis Lend Lease had been 鈥渞eally super鈥� and in late October helped save 24 cats and kittens on the site of the former Frigoscandia factory, which covers a large part of the Olympic Village site.

She said: 鈥淭hey made our lives much easier by recognising we had CSCS cards and were qualified to go on site. We didn鈥檛 get that level of co-operation from other contractors.鈥�

Celia Hammond talks to 黑洞社区 about saving the Olympic cats

Postscript

The interview with Celia Hammond will appear on 黑洞社区TV on Friday afternoon.

Celia Hammond is looking for people who can provide homes in a rural setting, such as farms or stables, for the remaining feral cats rescued from the Olympic site. She also needs an architect to work on extending the premises at the trust鈥檚 Lewisham branch in south London.