The Attard local council has instructed its executive secretary to withdraw a legal letter sent to a resident warning her to remove stray cats which she cared for at Ġnien l-Istazzjon.

The legal letter was revealed by The Times yesterday, raising a storm of protest on timesofmalta.com.

But the council issued a statement insisting its councillors never instructed the secretary to send the letter.

"Our secretary acted upon her own initiative because she had been receiving continuous reports/complaints from residents that the cats were damaging and dirtying private property," the council said.

The statement, signed by acting mayor Stefan Cordina and councillors Marco Spiteri and Luisa Gauci Baluci, said: "In this regards the Attard local council has instructed its secretary to retrieve the legal letter and the matter will now be on the next council meeting agenda for discussion. We shall discuss and find a just solution to the issue."

It apologised for any inconvenience this might have created to the resident, Wenza Micallef, and to all animal lovers.

Ms Micallef had last month received a legal letter, on behalf of the council, ordering her to remove the strays because the council insisted they posed a health hazard. However, the animal welfare authorities said the cats had a right to stay there unless the Health Department declared them a hazard, which had not happened.

Ms Micallef has been looking after the 28-cat colony of Ġnien l-Istazzjon for about a decade and she was extremely upset by the letter.

"They are not mine but I love them as though they are... But I have nowhere to take them. I can't take them home and sanctuaries are full," she had told The Times.