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A couple days ago, my brother's girlfriend's cat managed to get out of the apartment. It must've slipped out an open door without being noticed as someone came or left. Apparently it was quickly found by our upstairs neighbors and brought into their apartment. We had not met these neighbors and they did not know the cat belonged to us. The guys who found it played with it for a couple hours, then took it to the nearby shelter. Not long after this happened, we put up "missing cat" flyers. The neighbors saw a flyer, notified us, and we headed to the shelter only to find out her kitten had already been put to sleep. The time frame of this entire event is about 4 hours. According to the municipal code of our city, the cat should've been kept alive for at least 5 days. Anyone dealt with a situation like this? What can we do besides complain?
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 21:54 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 04:57 |
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How tragic. I'm sorry.  But I'm pretty sure there's really nothing you can do other than complain and hope they at least give you an apology.
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 22:21 |
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Was your cat de-sexed, chipped, or wearing some kind of collar to prove that s/he was not a stray?
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 22:30 |
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How old was the kitten?
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 22:34 |
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5 months old, neutered, and just bathed. Ironically, it was not wearing a collar because KK (cat's owner) had just determined a bigger collar was needed and was out buying one. We suspect the cat escaped when KK opened to door to head to the pet shop.
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 22:43 |
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The 5 days "rule" is only an estimate and plenty of humane societies out there will euth anything that comes in the door, at least in my experience. Even if they're chipped, depending on the chip and the reader they have, sometimes it may not read and they'll shrug it off as clearly some stray. Or young. Or are desexed. If they don't have room, any incoming animal might be totally hosed depending on how the place is set up. It sucks, and I'm really sorry about your cat, but they (as a group, some individuals might care) probably aren't going to give a poo poo.
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| # ? Jan 12, 2013 22:44 |
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Go adopt another kitten from that shelter sounds like they already have too many
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 00:10 |
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This can not be ok. I'm sorry, but an animal brought to the shelter has to have a holding time for potential owners to do a search - I don't care how over populated they are. That's absurd. Even the high kill shelters I read about have a period of days between in take and euthanasia. I would demand to speak to every single person who saw that kitten and all managers. Find out what happened and make sure they know that this can not happen ever again. 4 hours?! For a well fed, desexed cat with no disease or signs of being on the street for a long time? There had to have been a mistake on her paper work - like an owner surrender instead of lost and found. Even so, a kitten is highly adoptable. Geez, this makes me so upset and sad! In future pets, a microchip is great. My 2 cats refuse to wear their collars, so I gave up knowing that they have their chip in case something happened. I had a similiar thing though - the first day that Nova got her collar stuck on her jaw I took it off while I went to work to figure out what to do to make sure it didn't happen again. I came home and my apartment had been broken into - luckily Nova was still hanging around but she had wandered the building and easily could have gotten out. Microchips = necessity for safe mind. Of course I wouldn't be shocked if this shelter had screwed that up as well.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 01:23 |
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I agree with going to talk to the shelter to find out what happened and get a copy of the cat's paperwork. Shelters can vary widely in quality. A microchip and breakaway collar combo is always a good idea in case of this exact scenario. I'd also suggest that your friend go meet with her neighbors, explain what happened and then meet with them again if she adopts another cat.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 02:03 |
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Jesus, I'm so sorry. Not sure that there's much I can add beyond that, and the fact that stuff like this is pretty much my worst nightmare. And it really makes me wonder about people who live in highly populated areas who let their cats out regularly - I don't care if it's "low-traffic" or if you feel your cats are smart and lucky enough to evade cars year after year. Even a collar is absolutely no guarantee given how easily cats can lose them or slip out of them or whatever; no matter how reliable it might seem it's not exactly foolproof. Honestly though, I'm not crazy about this, I get that it's about minimizing risk and that sometimes the risk really is minimal enough that letting your cat out regularly is acceptable, or at least morally defensible on the most basic level. But stories like this do not make me feel like it's even remotely safe out there for my precious little Jackie-cat. Hell, not only is she *not* microchipped, but she's never worn a collar in her life. And bear in mind that she was fully an indoor/outdoor cat and typically spent anywhere from 4 to 12 hours outside every day for the first four years of her life. Without even a collar. It was in a relatively woodsy area but it was also directly next to a public park where people walked their dogs *all the time*. It really is a wonder she survived as long as she did without getting mauled by some random rear end in a top hat dog or scooped up by some random person for not having a collar or just run over a car or GOD KNOWS WHAT. My dad still lets his cats outside there too, still without collars.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 02:21 |
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Baronjutter posted:Go adopt another kitten from that shelter sounds like they already have too many Why the gently caress would you want to support this shelter in any way? My local ordinance requires the county animal shelter to hold animals for seven days before euthanizing them or adopting them out. If this shelter euthed an unclaimed animal immediately after taking it in, they're not doing their drat job right, and not following the legal ordinances they're supposed to follow. They should have euthed an animal already in their possession and held on to the cat for the mandatory wait period for unclaimed animals. Sucrose fucked around with this message at Jan 13, 2013 around 03:40 |
| # ? Jan 13, 2013 03:37 |
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Sue them or take legal action?
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 07:59 |
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Off topic but kaworu you should really get Jackie chipped.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 08:27 |
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That's really bad. Bad enough that the media might be interested. They must be punished and nothing hurts quite as bad as bad publicity.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 12:11 |
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Did you talk to your neighbors yet? I know when a friend of mine took her cat to the shelter, she was told point-blank that the cat would be put to sleep if she surrendered him. That day. That hour. She was furious and kept asking for a manager. Not that it excuses your plight, OP, but at least around here there are usually signs posted when the intake is full, and any animals brought in are put to sleep asap. It pisses me off because anyone could turn in an animal to spite their spouse, etc.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 15:12 |
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Lareine posted:That's really bad. Bad enough that the media might be interested. And what good what that do except to demonize a shelter that is probably already struggling to make ends meet? It sounds like a mistake was made here. In general, a shelter that received a well-fed, desexed kitten that was not covered in fleas would assume it must have gotten out somehow -- or at least hang onto it for the holding period because the cost of neutering had already been covered and it could possibly be adopted out. Something obviously went wrong here because shelter workers aren't euthanizing every animal that comes in the door immediately. They would much rather see them adopted out, and even under space constraints there are laws on how long strays must be held. I'm with everyone else on calling and seeing what happened here. As was said before, it could have been an error on the paperwork that made the cat look like an owner surrender or it could even have been mistaken for another kitten that had been there the requisite time and was up for euthanization. This sort of thing happens pretty rarely in kill shelters, but the answer isn't to give them a bad name so no one else wants to adopt from them. Kill shelters are an unfortunately necessity in a society that views animals as disposable, and this would only lead to the euthing of more animals.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 15:21 |
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As much as this situation sucks, what if there really was no room in the shelter? Where are the supposed to keep the cat, let alone for 5 days? That may not be what happened here, it could have been an honest mistake, but it's not reasonable to expect that any time an animal is dropped off at a shelter it will be held for X days, as some of them honestly don't have anywhere to put it.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 16:04 |
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Cowslips Warren posted:Did you talk to your neighbors yet? The neighbors were shocked. They said the shelter told them the cat would be kept alive for five days. We tried to get a copy of the paperwork to get a straight story (since the shelter lied to us on the phone about the cat being feral and delivered in a cage)but the workers were completely unapologetic assholes and said we would have to come back Monday. KK was bawling and begging for some help but they seemed completely unconcerned.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 16:13 |
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I guess that is the one good thing about one of my neighbors keeping feral cats: if a cat gets loose he never calls the shelter, he just puts more food out and ignores the problem of cat poo poo mountains in other yards. I am sorry for her loss though. From the sounds either you have one stinkyhole of a shelter helper, or someone who mixed the cats, up when so many are brought in, and the wrong one was put down. I know here in AZ, a bit back there was some huge public blowback against the main shelter here because they put down a dog who had come from Afghanistan via a veteran. The dog got loose, was kept for a few days, and then put down. There was no collar, no microchip, but the family hit up every news station screaming that America didn't value the sacrifice its veterans made and all kinds of political crap. Odd how there was perhaps half as much outcry when a K9 cop left his dog in the car in 110+ weather and the dog died.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 17:05 |
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I'd print out a copy of the municipal code and walk in there demanding to know what the hell.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 20:08 |
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Alright. Don't listen to people saying you should stampede in there with a righteous chip on your shoulder. Being mad at the workers isn't going to solve or help anything. Did something terrible happen? Yes. We don't know whether or not this was a simple mistake or a deliberate act. If it was a simple mistake then it's truly unfortunate, and the shelter workers will feel bad regardless - you won't have to rage at them to make them feel bad. If someone did it out of malice, then that will be determined and dealt with at that time. The workers being short with you over the weekend could simply be a busy weekend (especially if people are calling in sick due to flu), they could have been inexperienced, or not the normal person to handle the public (and so don't know how to deal with the public), the paperwork brought up could've been for the wrong animal (not a deliberate lie, just a simple mistake)... etc. Animal Shelter workers are extremely underpaid for the work they have to put up with (or even volunteer out of necessity) - and shelters are usually horribly understaffed. With the rise of "no-kill" shelters that handpick those animals they take in, workers at shelters that euthanize animals can, at times, euthanize dozens of animals per day because they're the ones that get stuck doing it - their days are already pretty bad, don't make it worse until all the information has been determined.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 22:49 |
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Kid Golbez posted:The neighbors were shocked. They said the shelter told them the cat would be kept alive for five days. We tried to get a copy of the paperwork to get a straight story (since the shelter lied to us on the phone about the cat being feral and delivered in a cage)but the workers were completely unapologetic assholes and said we would have to come back Monday. KK was bawling and begging for some help but they seemed completely unconcerned. This is just horrible. I'm so sorry  I hope something is done within the shelter to prevent something like that from happening again.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 23:21 |
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If nothing else, I hope this thread drives everyone who reads it to go to the vet or even a vaccine clinic and MICROCHIP YOUR CATS. I don't care if they are indoors only--poo poo happens, and there are too many cats in this world to expect that someone will find yours and treat it like anything but a stray. If your cats are microchipped, double check that your contact info is correct, especially if any of it changed recently. Next time you visit the vet, ask them to scan the cat and confirm the chip still works.
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| # ? Jan 13, 2013 23:55 |
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I'd be willing to bet they got some paperwork mixed up somewhere and euthed the wrong cat. I don't think the shelter should be demonized via the media because that's not helping anyone and will just lower their adoption rate, but they really need to issue an apology and find out what went wrong, where, and make whatever changes are necessary to make sure poo poo like that can't happen. Getting defensive and not giving a gently caress about the owner of the cat they wrongfully euthanized while they are bawling at the front desk is unacceptable.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 01:12 |
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I have to agree with everyone else saying that starting a shitfit and/or going to the media isn't going to help, even if it wasn't a mistake (although the employees could have definitely been less douchey). It's really awful and I'm very sorry.  But my city shelter has long since been cast as "the bad guy" in town, despite them having issues with really lovely management in the past and trying really hard to dig themselves out of the hole they've been put in. They're a government-run facility, which means their hands are way more tied, in various ways, than a private shelter. People don't realize how difficult it is to run this kind of shelter and blame them for not doing enough, but the resources just aren't there sometimes. It's not an easy job and the employees already have to deal with some awful poo poo. Bad publicity only kicks them further down the hole. I think it's fine if you go talk to someone in charge privately to find out what exactly happened and bring it to their attention to help keep it from happening again, but that's about it.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 01:36 |
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Sounds like a PETA shelter, http://www.petakillsanimals.com/
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 22:43 |
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What a horrible horrible story.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 23:05 |
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My brother, Garth, returned to the shelter today to get a copy of the documents involved in Porkchop's undoing. The neighbor, Justin, signed one paper, saying he did not own the cat. The shelter employee had filled out another form. This form stated the cat -- a clean neutered kitten -- was feral and had been caught in a trap. Garth pointed out this was obviously untrue. The employee insisted Justin must be lying, it was indeed trapped. Garth pulled out his phone and called Justin on speaker. Justin said he doesn't own any animal traps and brought the cat in hand. The employee then said he saw Justin put the cat in a trap with his own eyes. He then explained that the shelter brought a box out to the front desk for Justin to put the cat in. In their world, this means Justin trapped the cat. I don't loving know. At this point Garth starts getting pretty pissed because clearly this employee is full of poo poo. Looking at the papers, Garth sees where it says in black and white that the animal will be held for 7 days. The employee says no that is only for dogs, even though the paper says nothing like that. He then goes on to say the kitten was aggressive and had to be put down for safety. Yes, the 5 pound kitten in a box was THIS CLOSE to escaping and going on a rampage. Last thing on the form -- Time brought in 3:08 Time put down 3:09
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 23:13 |
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That shelter needs to be trapped and put down
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 23:16 |
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I would understand a mistake. I would reconsider media coverage if this is a standard operating procedure. A neutered cat is loved and missed. A healthy kitten more so.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 23:21 |
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Nothing on this forums has made me nearly cry like this. The time brought in and the time of it being put down. ... I just, I can't bear to think of it. The only consolation is that the kitten went peacefully and wasn't hit by a car or hurt by another animal. I don't think I can keep following this thread My sincere wishes for peace and healing for you, the gf, and the neighbor.
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| # ? Jan 14, 2013 23:26 |
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Kid Golbez posted:
I have read stories like this before so I don't know why I find this post so bone chilling but I am pretty sure I am going to have nightmares. If they were apologetic that would be one thing. The "desperately searching for an adequate lie to cover all asses involved while continuing to not give a gently caress" just fills me with total terror at how helpless it would feel to be in that situation. I don't even know how your brother's girlfriend is functioning right now, OP
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:03 |
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Are we allowed to demonize them NOW? I knew it was some poo poo like this. I could loving sense it.
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:04 |
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What's wrong with my sue them idea?
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:16 |
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Telling this story to a few friends has ended up with us finding out more horrible poo poo this shelter has done. A rescue operation called SouthBARK successfully adopted out over 1,400 animals from area shelters, mainly by showing them off on Facebook and employing other networking strategies. The Mobile County Animal Shelter banned this group from working with the shelter, citing reasons such as the excessive number of phone calls it creates. The shelter spokesperson also claimed that SouthBARK was besmirching the shelter by suggesting that certain dogs would be put down if not adopted by a certain deadline. SouthBARK responded by releasing emails from the shelter wherein the shelter says exactly that! Furthermore, SouthBARK found several cases where the dog in question was put down ahead of the deadline in the email. http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/loc...rk-pull-animals http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...&type=1&theater
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:20 |
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SBJ posted:What's wrong with my sue them idea? It might come to that.
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:20 |
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Jesus Christ, forget what I said about not going after them, these guys are assholes.
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:23 |
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SBJ posted:What's wrong with my sue them idea? I depends on your location, Texas is currently testing a case on if you can sue for the sentimental value of a pet, until recently you could only sue for the financial loss of a pet as property and as you can imagine depreciated pet value is not high. Basically you could possibly get more money if they destroyed a photo of your dog after they killed it for the destruction of the photo than the dog. It's currently being challenged in the Texas Supreme Court. http://setexasrecord.com/news/28054...l-value-of-pets Three Olives fucked around with this message at Jan 15, 2013 around 00:34 |
| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:31 |
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That's just awful, it's really too bad your neighbour didn't see all this when he googled directions to the place. http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/re...ecountyshelter/ quote:Animals are euthanized even if the shelter has been notified that someone is on their way to get that animal.
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:34 |
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| # ? May 26, 2013 04:57 |
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Three Olives posted:I depends on your location, Texas is currently testing a case on if you can sue for the sentimental value of a pet, until recently state law you could only sue for the financial loss of a pet as property and as you can imagine depreciated pet value is not high. Basically you could possibly get more money if they destroyed a photo of your dog after they killed it for the destruction of the photo than the dog. That's pretty terrible, but I'm sure you could get a lawyer to successfully argue about the financial losses the prosecutor incurred due to having to cope with having their beloved pet being put down unreasonably (taking time off work, therapy, along with slapping them with your own legal costs). It's fine to make mistakes, but the shelter also broke some rules with regards to the waiting period and instead of issuing an apology and trying to make amends, they tried to obstruct the information regarding what happened. The point is that if you bring a case against them, it will also put them in a position of having to defend themselves against government fines for breaking the law (if the waiting period is a law). Even if it ends up being a couple of hundred dollars all things included, this will still hurt them as I can't imagine they make much money to begin with anyway, it will definitely be noticed. Really sorry to hear about your situation OP, if a shelter did that to my dog, and reacted this way to me trying to find out what happened and call them on it, I would pretty much try to gently caress them into oblivion in any way, shape or form whether it's through the law, media or just plain community activism. That's ridiculous and to most people the death of pets can cause an immense amount of grief.
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| # ? Jan 15, 2013 00:43 |
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