Florida woman flashes gun to defend feeding feral cats, police say

A Florida woman was arrested after showing a gun while defending her right to feed feral cats in a neighborhood, investigators said.

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Marvalene Phillips saw Lisa Saunders get out of a silver Nissan Altima and start putting cat food on a sidewalk March 30, Orlando police said.

Phillips told Saunders, 55, the food attracts sick cats and asked her to stop, police said. In response, Saunders opened the driver’s side door of her car, pulled out a black handgun and said, “Don’t (expletive) with me.”

Police said Saunders then got in the car and drove off.

Phillips recognized Saunders, who works as a pizza delivery driver for Domino’s and had recently delivered a pizza to her.

A manager at the restaurant told police Saunders has been putting cat food out for stray cats around the city for about two years.

Phillips told investigators she has called police and animal control for months about the feedings. She is worried neighborhood children could get scabies from the sick felines.

Animal control set up traps to catch the cats, however, because they are continually fed away from the traps, the cats don’t get caught, Phillips said.

Saunders was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated assault, according to jail records.

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