Authorities on Jan. 3 seized 200 cats from Whiskerville Animal Sanctuary Inc. in Texas City after finding them in squalid living conditions. Caring for the surviving 170 cats, including those that were sick, soaked in urine and covered in feces, overwhelmed the county’s animal resource center, which sought help from three other organizations.
In May, just one week after legal custody of the cats was transferred to the county, a jury awarded $231,884 to the shelters caring for the cats.
But that was then, this is now:
The [Galveston County Animal Resources Center] will begin humanely euthanizing the remaining Whiskerville cats Aug. 22.
Kurt Koopmann, spokesman for the Galveston County Health District, says the 30 cats may be killed due to space, not because they are medically hopeless and suffering. In fact, it’s quite the opposite:
They are healthy again after spending the last eight months recuperating, Koopmann said.
“There’s such a big difference between when we found them in the shelter in January and now,” Koopmann said.
Aw, touching. They’ve come so far. Time to throw them in the dumpster. Oh and, of course:
“We’d love to see them adopted,” Koopmann said. “The last thing we want to do is euthanize the cats.”
Totally. We don’t want to kill them so much that we scheduled a date for it, marked on the calendar with sparkly balloon stickers next to the sign up sheet for cake and soda.
***
Charlotte-Mecklenberg ACC seized 45 cats last week from a Mint Hill, NC man who was taking care of them in his home but couldn’t afford to have them all neutered and vaccinated. Char-Meck “had to” kill most of the cats – not because they were medically hopeless and suffering, in fact not even a sniffle was reported by the pound, but “due to lack of socialization.” As you know, cats who are appear scared or withdrawn when removed from the only home they’ve ever known and dropped on the stainless steel table at a pet killing facility are deviant beasts who don’t deserve to live.
It must be gratifying for the staff at Char-Meck to know that, instead of offering to neuter, vaccinate and assist in rehoming these healthy, owned cats, they have done the community a service by putting pets who refused to tap dance on demand didn’t pass their behavioral evaluations into the freezer. There, they can hone their social skills while awaiting the Dead Cat Man who rummages through cat carcasses at NC pounds and picks out which ones he’ll pay $5 for in order to supply his dissection specimen business.
***
Remember folks, don’t criticize anyone who enables these types of killings rescues. We all want the same thing. We’re all on the same team. They have a hard job killing rescuing pets and you’re not allowed to judge unless you are willing to do their jobs for them for free. No one wants to kill pets. They have to because the public is irresponsible and the only two choices are kill or – oh wait, I guess there is only one choice. Yay Team Killing Rescue!
(Thanks Lisa for the links to the Char-Meck story.)
Have none of these places read Redemption?! Think outside the damn box!! Reach out to their communities, have adoption promotions, waive their adoption fee, advertise, find foster homes….I could go on and on….ugh!
amen….
Oh and i wonder what sort of horrible hoops potential adopters have to jump through…too tired to even look this up this morning. i can only imagine
this whole thing is just plain out SICK! They never intended on finding homes for these cats. Makes you wonder what they did with all that money? hmm?? How much went in whose pockets.. when they could and still CAN have an adoption event, check with other rescues, anything but kill these beautiful animals that did nothing to deserve to be put to death … the only thing they did was happen to be born! Someone needs to get in there and investigate before it’s too late. People like this make me want to just shake people and wake them up! These animals have feelings.. they have emotions.. they are LIVING THINGS that we do not have the right to decide if they live or die.. only one person can decide that.. and that’s GOD! They whole mess makes me come to the conclusion that they rescued these animals for their own personal gain. “Oh look how great these people are! They rescued all these cats!” No, they killed the biggest portion of them! They need to be put in jail for animal cruelty! Sickening bunch of so called HUMANS! How’d they like to be killed just because there are too many humans on the earth? Or they had no one to care for them. The best revenge is GOD’S revenge!
Some have read it and bristle at
The thought of actually changing their hard core principals – “it’s the publics fault”
This is true. The Harris County attorney recently did an 8 month investigation into Harris County animal control. They found an 83% kill rate and found that they had been breaking state laws and doing some really horrendously inhumane things to animals.
Many of us went to Commissioners Court several times to demand that those responsible be held accountable. (They did NOTHING). Then a few weeks later, many of the speakers received an invitation to a meeting at Harris Co animal control. Since it is on the opposite side of town from me (Houston is 600 square miles), I called to find out exactly what the meeting was about. I was told that they wanted to explain to us how animal control works. I knew it was going to be a dog and pony show to tell we “uneducated” why they just could not stop killing. So, I said “If I drive across town to attend this meeting, can we talk about how you can increase your save rate?”.
Much flustered rambling followed, so I asked the same question again: “If I drive across town to attend this meeting, can we talk about how you can increase your save rate?”
I was told no. So, they do not even want to listen to anyone, do anything that might allow them to increase their save rate from a paltry 17%.
This is why we are now working on a candidate forum to hopefully elect people who actually care about this issue and will fire county employees who break the law.
Nobody wants to kill, yet everyone keeps doing it. I wonder why?
everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die.. as the old blues tune goes.. this whole thing is despicable.. .
Oh – and some of those dead cats ended up at my high school. I remember the advanced biology students talking about dissecting sharks, piglets, and cats. One girl was so excited because her dead cat was pregnant…
Some days I just despair of humanity.
@mikken: Amen.
It would matter not IF the cats tap danced. “Behavioral” is just another excuse to continue assembly line slaughter house killing. Those “evaluating” are also doing the killing. Of course they have no compassion they are devoid of all feeling if they ever had any to continue in their jobs. They bandy about the word “humane” as a hideous bandaid over their travesty, as if that makes it just fine. Btw, due to the serious lack of reporting requirements/transparency in most shelters many may also be selling live cats and dogs for experimentation if pound seizure is not illegal in their states. ( Truthfully and wouldn’t put it past them even if it was “illegal”. They also “donate” the pets to schools and labs.)
Around 2008 & 2009, the No Kill Advocacy Center had a “two-fer” sale, in which if you bought a copy of Redemption, they would send a free copy to whatever “shelter” you chose. I, personally, bought A LOT of copies and had them sent them to every Houston kill shelter, as well as A LOT of the kill shelters in surrounding cities and counties in Texas, including Galveston.
No Kill Houston has also brought Nathan to Houston twice for an all day, Building a No Kill Community seminar. I sent FREE tickets to all the kill shelters in Houston and those in surrounding cities and counties. As far as I know, the Galveston “shelter” director did not attend.
So the answer to Ann’s question is yes, they know about Redemption and the No Kill model of sheltering, but they CHOOSE to ignore it and they CHOOSE to keep killing.
Time for Galveston residents to stand up and say ENOUGH!
too busy killing and blaming to read
Enough is enough, Galveston! You are a “blight” on our beautiful Texas! No Kill WORKS, so WHY do you continue to refuse to accept it? ALL living creatures have a right to life!
Nancy Goldwire
Leander , TX
Shirley: To say “dripping with sarcasm” would be a GROSS understatement! I have long given up trying to psychoanalyze these killers. As you know, I am a woman of ACTION.
Just so totally disgusting
Ugh…
We really need Nathan to swoop into these places and help these animals, like he did for Reno, Austin, etc.
Thanks Shirley, this was fun. Yea Team! And yes, it is sad and disgusting, and unfortunately, not all that uncommon. Sigh. I was part of an H$U$ *raid* and we managed to get several hundred dogs away from an elderly fellow. The community really stepped forward and helped. (After the H$U$ folks got back on their money carpets and flew away.) But alas, the *rescue* was in April, and there were more than 60 dogs still homeless come October when the weather started getting cold again. The volunteer force had dwindled, and nobody wanted to drive 30 miles one way on icy roads to take care of the dogs. Not to mention the owner of the property was planning on selling it or renting it and the dogs needed to move.
Animal Control didn’t want the dogs. (There wasn’t enough room to add them to the already busy/full facility.) The owner would have taken them ALL back. (And he and a neighbor were actually angry that volunteers had kept a few of their favorite dogs) but nobody wanted to give any dogs back to him, so they killed them. Actually, I think the owner got ten dogs back (on top of the 100+ that he still had…the *intervention* began with him having more than 400 dogs!) The killing broke my heart, but I was not willing/able to take another 10 or 20 or 30 dogs. I had a couple dogs from that rescue. So did a lot of other people in our community, and we rehomed a bunch of them over the summer. (They might have flown one dog to Best Friends in Utah!)
It hurts. We scotch at killing facilities that threaten death, and yet complain when they kill without warning too.
The Mat-Su Borough did a much better job with the *intervention* they did a couple of years ago. I don’t know if any of those 150 dogs were killed. Maybe a couple the first days, old, or sick or feeble animals, euthanized because it was the right thing to do. But they networked really well and found homes for all the healthy animals. Timing was difficult because the dogs were evidence as part of the legal case against this guy. Foster homes were easy to find, but they were afraid to relinquish custody until the legal mess was figured out.
“We scotch at killing facilities that threaten death, and yet complain when they kill without warning too.”
I guess we just don’t like killing.
Yes, aren’t we unreasonable to expect “shelters” to actually shelter animals and not kill them…. especially after they receive thousands of dollars for their care. So unreasonable.
A friend sent me a link to a Letter to the Editor that another Galveston area shelter sent announcing an adoption event for the cats that both shelters “rescued” from Whiskerville. http://galvestondailynews.com/story/334606
Note that the notice of the event was sent the same day of the event, and the event is on a Thursday for 4 hours. While I’m glad that they are attempting some marketing and an offsite adoption event, 4 hours on a Thursday with literally a few hours notice surely will not result in enough adoptions to get all of these cats off of the kill list. Why so little effort?
I can’t help but wonder if this wasn’t thrown together at the last minute to try to stifle some of the public outcry over this situation.
I just want to says thanks for helping those you could, and for sharing a story where the challenges hit home. I sympathize. May compassion be of some small consolation to you while the hurt lingers.
Lynn, I just want to thank you for your rescue efforts, and for sharing a story whose challenges hit close to home. I sympathize with any lingering pain you have, and hope that compassion may provide a bit of consolation. Thanks again.
Gee, the t.v. press in Charlotte said
:
Mint Hill, N.C. (WBTV) — Police say 45 cats were seized from a home in Mint Hill after conditions were found to be “detrimental to the health and well being of the felines.”
On Friday a search warrant was served to Richard Coxwell and his daughter Suzette Coxwell by officers with the Mint Hill Police Department at their home on Gold Wagon Lane.
In all, 45 cats were taken, and the condition of the home was consistent with that of an animal hoarder, police say.
Coxwell told WBTV the cats were not malnourished or abused.
“They were all healthy,” he said. “There was nothing wrong with them. No diseases, no illnesses, no sickness in any way.
So, Char-Meck thinks that since they’re ALL healthy and there was NOTHING WRONG IN ANY WAY they’re better off DEAD??
OMG…Can someone please explain the rationale in this ’cause I don’t get it!
Ruh roh . . . you have spiked some quills with NKN – did someone walk the plank or did you just get thrown under the bus – NKN means “no kill” or at least that’s what I thought. Best not to think on a Friday, I suppose.
???
All healthy/treatable pets should be cared for until adopted. One fact I have never heard discussed is that rental housing and condos, even subsidized housing do not allow pets, or have a limit on pets with a very expensive pet fee that likely forces many people to give up their pets in order to get affordable housing. This is a horrible, heartbreaking situation to be in, when one cannot afford to pay $300-$450 for each pet in addition to rent and damage deposit, or facing a housing rule that forces one to choose one of three or four rescued pets to keep or take to a shelter. A one pet limit is a heartless rule.
Tishijo, Nathan has talked about this issue before. In fact, he talked about it again last weekend in one of his classes at the No Kill conference. He said that when he worked at the San Francisco SPCA, they made an offer to apartments who did not allow pets, that if they would allow a tenant to have a pet that was adopted thru the SF SPCA, and if that pet subsequently caused more damage than would be covered under the pet deposit, then the SF SPCA would cover the additional damage costs.
He said that they never once had to pay out.
Also, he has talked about pet limits and why they do not help animals.
That’s good to know. Seems pet deposits are basically just to get more money off the tenants than anything. Having to pay more money/no availabilty of housing to people with pets is such an awful thing, especially in this economy, because it’s the pets who suffer most.
it IS such a shame that the culture rewards seizing animals rather than helping them in the home where they are and wanted! i think the animal control agencies are infected with cop mentality not help mentality- they want power and control, Seizing and killing fulfills that.
A protest needs to be started ASAP, this is unheard of ! MEDIA alerted?
If the media hasn’t been notified, someone should do it NOW.. before it’s too late. (if it isn’t already) and if it is too late, they still need to be notified and asked to see WHY this was done and just where the money went!
I can hardly wait to see if these shelters get an award from the natls!
Thank you for the cross outs- it is what it is! Killing cats are right up there with pigeon shoots nowadays except that cats are killed “to help them”!
Day in and day out millions of cats are just murdered because they were born! And those of us on the front lines of TNR many times have to hide in the shadows out of fear for ourselves and fear for the lives of the cats.
Now we find out that the vets, under the guise of “helping”, are forming their own orgs – as in Hillsborough County FL thru their AWAKE program sponsored by the ABC and Audobon.
Please help Hillsborough County Cat Coalition figh this!!
This Wednesday, August 22, Galveston County Animal Resources (GCAR) will begin killing the cats that they “rescued” from Whiskerville. .
This Galveston County Shelter comes under the Galveston County Health District.
Kim Schoolcraft, the Shelter Manager reports to
Ron “Ronnie” Schultz – Director Environmental Health Programs
rschultz@gchd.org; 409-938-2319
Dr. Harlan “Mark” Guidry – Chief Executive Officer and Health Authority; mguidry@gchd.org; 409-938-2401
We ask that everyone contact Mr. Schulz and Mr. Guidry and demand that they do what they are being paid to do, and that is care for these cats.
No one likes animals to be killed but who’s fault is it? It’s our fault, everyone in the community. It’s easy to judge others but look at your neighbor. Do they have an excessive amount of pets? Do they take them to get spayed or nuetered? That is just as much your fault as theirs. You know they will grow up and have 4 or 5 offspring EACH FOUR times a year. That can add up to hundreds in one year. The cats I have now are ferrel cats, they can’t be petted, dipped for fleas or doctored from cat fights. Who wants cats like that? I am thankful the Human Society is helping me catch them. I know I’m doing the right thing because it’s four cats now that possibly will be put down BUT if they start reproducing it could increase to 20 or 30 cats or more having to be put down. I think all of you who thinks it’s inhumane to run their routes for a week, work in the shelter and take care of the wild cats you picked up on your route. Try to find someone to adopt them. You will still end up with the same amount of cats. Be thankful that there are people who work at the Human Society that goes to work everyday knowing he will be picking up ferrel cats and they will be put down. I’m sure he has a wife and children and this isn’t really his choice of a good job. The Human Society does things that WE don’t want to do. If everyone were responsible pet owners WE would’nt have a problem and THEY would’nt have to take care of OUR mess. I’ve had ferrel cats come to my house with BB holes through its head and body. The Human Society didn’t do that. WE DID! You, me and our neighbors. GET EDUCATED PEOPLE ! WE CAN PUT THEM OUT OF BUSINESS.
Huhwow! Now I’m to blame for my neighbors not getting their pets neutered too. I sure am irresponsible, dang.
Damn. Ok, so am I responsible for just the houses on either side of me or the people across the street, too? I need to know so I can be properly responsible. Gosh, I hope I’m not in charge of my whole street…
As for feral cats – I have two living on my deck, thanks. And the one surviving kitten of the female is living in my home. Does that make me responsible enough? Now my shelter doesn’t “have” to kill pets, right?
I have an idea – instead of working with your Humane Society to kill those feral cats, how about you approach them about starting a TNR program? Because killing isn’t the ONLY option, it’s just the EASY option that shelters take time and time again. It’s easier for them to kill animals than it is to market them, than it is to TNR them, than it is to work to keep them alive and get them into homes.
Education is important, but so is compassion.
If your house is an odd number, you are only responsible for the other odd numbered homes on your street. If you’re an even number, you have to take all the other evens AND any 1/2s, “B”s, etc.
Dammit. I’m even. Ok, work to do, policing my neighbors’ pets.
I failed to mention that my town does have a TNR, that’s probably what made it easier for me to have them trapped. One cat came here and I started giving her food, then the next thing I knew she was pregnant and had 3 kittens who are older than a teenage cat, other ferrel cats started coming and hanging around waiting for food Which means they will be breeding soon and it will just multiply. My sister told me to trap them and release somewhere else, which I did consider but then I know this is my problem now. I’m a retired widow on my husbands pension. I can’t afford to get them fixed, shots, and de-flea’d. I can’t even pet them. I can’t find them a home and they”re eat up with fleas. My dog can’t even go in the backyard anymore.
I’m sorry if I offended anyone, I just don’t want everyone to think the Human Society is just dying to take your animal and kill it. I’m just trying to stop this cycle and I know it takes the entire community to acheive this. At one time I counted 8 ferral cats in my backyard laying around. Of course 4 of them were mine.
sincerely,
There is this thing called TNR. Check out http://www.alleycatallies.org. Rather than helping the local kill “shelter” to round up and kill local feral cats, you can prevent their breeding by catching them in humane traps, having them neutered and vaccinated at a local clinic, and returning them to their habitats. If you have people in the area who are abusing the cats by shooting them with BB guns, then the Humane Society should be doing everything in its power to catch them, not joining in the abuse by rounding the cats up and killing them
Also, The gestation period of cats is 63-65 days, and once the kittens are born, the mothers raise them for several more weeks, which would make 4 successful litters per year per cat rather difficult, if not impossible. In reality, cats are capable of producing 1-2 litters annually, on average.
Sorry, I’m not at fault. I HAVE NO CATS. I only have ONE dog.. spayed.. and she sleeps with me. BUT if I did have a cat, it would be an outside ferrel cat that would be a good mouser cat. I agree about people needing to have their animals altered, bu alot of the owners can’t afford what the vets charge for it.. When I had my dog spayed, it cost me over $400 .. with her rabies, parvo, etc shots. Now that’s just way too much money for what little time it takes to do these things. And people are not not educated, they are just poor. BUT again. if you cannot afford to keep up an animal in the correct way, DON”T GET ONE! Simple fix.. And until most of the cats can be caught and altered, we will always have this problem. Sad as it is… I wish there were a way to stop the killing.. all it would take would be altering the animals…… simple fix.. it’s just so expensive.. Looks to me like the Vets in every state would step up and fix a few for people that can’t afford it .. but CAN afford to feeed it and probably keep it in the house. Such a shame. And they CAN afford to do it. Our little vets office here does it. The vet is super! if you have a sick or injured animal or one that needs alterng or helping in any way, shots, etc.. he will do it for free if you do not have the money.. I wish every town and city would adopt this policy.. This man just has a huge heart for animals…. WE thank God for him :)
I think there are alot of vets that will help especially in a small town. You need to have a Vet appreciation day and let him know how much everyone appreciates him. I did’nt adopt this mother cat, she just appeared one day and now she is pregnant again. I love animals and have always taken care of mine, but even if they were fixed it wouldn’t stop the flea infestation and disease. I didn’t ask anyone to dump this cat on my front porch, I just made the mistake of feeding her.
Thank you Valerie, that just means that 4 cats can only have 1 or 2 litters annually. That means they can give birth to 16 to 32 ferral cats each year. If I end up with 32 ferral cats in my backyard someone needs to have me commited for animal abuse.
Also, the Human Society is catching them in traps, not coming out and shooting them. What did you mean having them returned to their natural habitat? Where is their natural habitat? I live in town in a neighborhood.
The place where a feral cat is trapped *is* their habitat, and the place to which they should be returned. In general, feral cats live in places near human habitation, not in wilderness areas. If they are neutered prior to being returned (The ‘N’ and ‘R’ parts of TNR), they produce zero litters per year, just like cats killed by so-called Humane Societies, only, unlike dead cats, they defend a territory, which prevents additional feral cats from migrating in from elsewhere. TNR programs and managed colonies are the only thing that stops the cycle of killing of feral cats, and when the cats are also vaccinated prior to return, it also helps prevent illness in the local cat population. When cats are neutered, they are less likely to engage in behaviors that people find annoying and are actually quite unobtrusive.
Valerie I understand what your saying and I really wish it was that easy. Anytime there is daily food given ANY cat will feed. That includes other ferral cats in the neighborhood and includes pregnant ones. I am an ederly woman who loves cats and dogs but Something Has got to change and that should include the entire community to try to control the situation. My mother cat is pregnant again and looks like she will deliver in 2 or 3 weeks. That will put me back to four or more cats again. Thank you for your help and advice. I have tried to trap the mother cat but she is just too smart after she saw her kittens (late teenager age) in the cage one at a time for 3 nights straight and slept by the cage all night long. It just makes me sad and sick that I had to capture them and hope they get good care. I even offered to volunteer at the Human Socielty for the spayand nueture program but they told me today that the cats are sent somewhere else to have that done. I can only hope and pray that they are getting good treatment.
Jackie, are you saying that your Humane Society left a cat in a trap for THREE DAYS??? That is unacceptable and cruel.
TNR groups NEVER leave traps unattended – they watch them from a distance and as soon as a cat is trapped, they cover the trap (to calm the cat) and remove it.
I strongly suggest that you contact some TNR groups and see if they know of anyone in your area who can help you get this done properly. They may ask you to donate gas money, but you shouldn’t have to pay for the s/n or anything else. Seriously, make some calls and tell them what’s going on in your area and that you need help. Because clearly the Humane Society is not doing it properly at all.
No No NO, that’s not what I meant.
she had 3 kittens who were almost grown and they brought the trap and everynight the trap caught one of the kittens and this happened 3 nights in a row until they were gone, the poor mother laid by the cage all night long which makes me cry thinking about it.. They were caught during the night and was picked up the next morning. Sorry for the confusion.
Even so, cats are not to be left in traps unattended. Not only can they injure themselves, but it makes other cats in the area “trap shy”, as you’ve seen. At the very least, you should have been instructed to cover and remove the trap to a safe place as soon as it had a cat in it.
I really think you should try to find local TNR groups who might be able to help you better. Removing cats from the area can be a death sentence to them unless proper acclimation and maintenance (feeding, shelter, etc.) is done.
Start with Alley Cat Allies – http://www.alleycat.org/
They may be able to point you in the right direction.
many rescues pull animals, animal is picked up by foster which never gets a penny for the animal it is intended, pledge money is collected by rescue that never has contact with animal. I have a problem with this and devote many hours informing the public making pledges thinking the animal gets the money, encouraging pledgers to make sure their money is used for the animal it is pledged for, NOT to line a “rescues” pocket.