“Years ago — no one seems to know when — feral cats began to sneak into Disneyland, living among the park’s trees and shrubs during the day. At night, they venture out, and an estimated 200 cats now prowl through Disneyland and neighboring California Adventure Park,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

“What we do is trap the cats, get them spayed or neutered and make sure they get a wellness check and release them back into the population,” says Gina Mayberry, who works at Disneyland’s Circle D Ranch. Although Disneyland doesn’t monitor the total number of cats, she says the program has been quite successful at adopting out kittens and “maintaining a balance” between cat population and the Disneyland environment, according to Alley Cat Allies.

Are the cats able to feed themselves on mice and rats alone? No. There are discreet feeding stations that the cats eat at.

You can see the cats at times during the day, not just in the resorts but also at the Disneyland Hotel, where they prowl the grounds.

Even though cats are household pets, Disney spokesperson Suzi Brown reminded park-goers the cats at the Disneyland Resort are not. “To keep animals healthy and our guests safe, we ask that guests please avoid giving them food, picking them up or approaching them,” she said, according to the O.C. Register.

Even a former Mouseketeer, actor Ryan Gosling, has gotten into the Disneyland cat action, by telling Conan O’Brien, last year, that Disney is breeding an army of cats – and of course Gosling noted the irony that Disneyland, which owes its fortunes to a mouse, deploys said army of cats to eradicate mice! See the video below.

The rodents are one thing but Disneyland also has a lot of cockroaches that night time workers target on a regular basis. A coworker of mine told me that once she was on one of the rafts over at the Tom Sawyer Island and the raft itself was infested with cockroaches! She reported it of course.

Does Disneyland have other critters? You bet. You can often see ducks in the various water attractions at both Disneyland and at the California Adventures Park. They are protected by federal laws so no one messes with them.