Thursday, March 12, 2009

A Curse to the Stupid

I've been meaning to write about something that happened to me at the shelter last week. I've had a lot of trouble putting it out of my mind. Maybe writing it here will help.

Unfortunately, I do have to encounter people dropping off their pets or strays while I'm at the shelter. Most of the time, I can't shut my big yapper and actually end up having a conversation with these people. Last week an older couple came in with a very very frightened cat in a humane animal trap. She was obviously very pregnant and she looked feral. I gave the couple a "sad face" and they immediately became very defensive:

Them: This ain't my cat.

Me: You know they're going to euthanize her and she's obviously pregnant.

Them: So? She keeps gettin' in mah garden. (Louder) This AIN'T my cat!!!!

Me: Is there a place you can keep her in a barn or something so she can have her babies? I'll help you with the kittens and we'll get Mom spayed.

Them: We got 15 of 'em runnin' around. I thought 'bout puttin' out poison.

I turned and walked away. If I get into a shit-fest with people like this in the Animal Control lobby it could ruin my relationship with the shelter and I could be banned from rescuing there.

The poor cat was taken to the back and just before they could put her in the cage, she bolted under the bank of cages. It took Kim and another worker from the shelter about 10 minutes to get her. They had nets and were moving quickly, but cautiously. Feral cats can be very dangerous. It broke my heart. She was terrified. This is "Gwynneth" the day she arrived at the shelter:

A few days later, I went back to the shelter to do a rescue and Kim said that Gwynnth wasn't feral at all...she was really sweet and very very frightened. She gave birth the next morning:

Imagine giving birth in the shelter. I'm a Mom, and my idea of an uncomfortable birth is when my epidural didn't work fast enough.

You can imagine that I'm very motivated to help this Mom and 5 babies. I'm getting pissed off all over again over those stupid, ignorant people that left her there because she was getting into their garden.

I hope their tomatoes and cucumbers all turn up rotten this year.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor mama! I wish I had room for her and those little ones..I'd scoop them up in a second and get them the heck outta there!!

Anonymous said...

I hope the couple had no children to breed their stupidity genes to.

RHz said...

Hell, I hope their tomatoes, cucumbers and whatever else they plant turns up rotten every year for each kitten mommy cat had.

May their garden be over run with voles.

Anonymous said...

Please, everyone who reads this, pass this story on to anyone who lets their cats outside. There are clearly more evils lurking out there for cats than just other animals and cars. People like that make me sick.

Lisa said...

Some people are just so ignorant. Poor cats scrounging out a living on the streets...they didn't choose to be there. I hate the "oh-my-precious-garden" crap. I hope they end up with a killer grub problem in their yard.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the reasons my cats stay indoors. Whether it be cruelty from people, people exasperated at other's pets venturing onto their property (which I suppose I can understand, I don't make my pets anyone else's problem) or the danger of being hit by an automobile, it's just safer. I even had a farmer (an acquaintance, not a friend) nonchalantly mention that he shoots cats on his farm because he doesn't want them messing with his chickens, ducks, geese etc. The last thing I'm ever going to let happen is deal with the misery of having a pet i'm responsible for and deeply attached to simply never come home one night and wonder whatever became of them.

whitesocks said...

thank you, thank you, thank you for all you do. Yet again.