Beloved Algonquin hotel kitty Matilda III now lives in chains.
This travesty must be noted: Matilda III, the house cat at New York City’s ritzy Algonquin hotel, has been leashed after a health department crackdown.
Matilda’s constant, reliable presence in the lobby’s lounge broke health codes, said officials, prompting them to give the famous hotel a “C” grade.
Now, after 79 years, the famous hotel’s guests will have no kitty to pet while waiting for their tea.
The New York Post, which is all over this story, provides some of Matilda III’s feline family history:
[Matilda III is] the 10th Algonquin cat since Rusty, a k a Hamlet I, moved into the hotel, legendary home of the “Round Table” literary salon, in 1932.
The pampered pussies are as much a part of The Algonquin’s cozy confines as the oak paneling and upholstered chairs and sofas. Hotel staff have delighted in pointing out Matilda’s hiding places to guests.
Like her predecessors, she had the run of the house, but the lobby, home to the Round Table restaurant and lounge, was called her “natural habitat.”
Now she suffers in captivity.
But all is not lost: the hotel reportedly lets Matilda III off the leash to roam around within the confines of an electric fence. Forget occupying Wall Street, we need to be up at The Algonquin demanding justice for Matilda III.
She may be an aristocratic poor little rich girl, but Matilda III’s in chains, unlike the hundreds of cats roaming freely in every deli and bodega in New York City. The health department clearly targeted her.
Shockingly, Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing Post didn’t go with the headline “Govt. Targets One Puss-cent;” instead they chose “‘Meow’trage at Algonquin.”
