Dear editors I am not sure who to write to as the shelter I volunteer at falls within all three of your readership areas. But I have to find some way of getting this message heard. My friend and I volunteer with Cats Anonymous, an independent no-kill shelter which is run with no funding. I am almost scare to tell you our shelter name in case what happens below happens again but feel this message must get out. We fully rely on donations from wonderful supporters and our fund-raising efforts along with the hard work the and dedication of its volunteers to care for the cats in our shelter. This past Saturday, June 2 was a very wet, windy and cold grey day and so what follows is a very sad story. On this day, just as my friend and I were about to leave after a bit of a chat with other volunteers, one of them who had gone to her van came back to tell the rest of us that there were two small carriers on the side of the road in front of her van. We all went to check this out; I was thinking “maybe” some who knew we were a shelter had dropped of some old extra carriers for us. But to our shock inside these two small carriers there peered out the beautiful faces of two Tortie cats. Rather large ones for the size of the carriers. Someone who obviously knew we were a cat shelter had driven to our location and “dumped” these two girls. To say we were shocked is an understatement! Being the compassionate person she is our founder Tish had no choice but to take these two girls into our care. Now our shelter does have a waiting list for surrenders as we are a small shelter with a quarantine room that holds only four cages, so that we can test cats before they join our open concept main room. This now meant one cage in our quarantine would have to be emptied as we did not have any history on these two cats. The “owners?” for lack of what I may call them in the paper, had of course not left us any information on them. Where they “tested”, did they have their “shots”, were they “healthy? How old were they? Of course no surrender fee what included…we will now have to pay for testing of these two girls to see if they will be able to join our main room cats. We must do this to keep all our cats healthy. Of course they will have to be fed and homed until they can be adopted. What really makes me angry is what might have happened if no one had looking inside these carriers? What if someone thought they were garbage from our shelter and for a laugh driven into the carriers for a laugh and some fun? These two girls would have been crushed. To the person who thoughtless did this, I will try to give you the benefit of doubt that maybe you lost your job and had no way to care for these girls. But we would have tried to help you in some way or direct you to help. We now have to tell those on our waiting list that we cannot take their cats as you thoughtlessly have taken a jump in the lineup. Please if you must surrender, for whatever reason, do not just “drop” off your cats to either a shelter or a vet clinic without at least: 1) Making sure they are safe from weather and harm And 2) For Pete’s sakes leave us some information. A small donation would also be nice and vet clinics do not normally run pet adoptions, they are in the business of providing health care for pets of owners who care for the animals. If you did this for no other reason than you grew tired of them or they were no longer “cute” kittens, shame on you and for God’s sake do not get another pet. As someone who would probably try to run into her burning house to save her cats I cannot understand your actions. So dear Editors if you could please run this letter, I know for myself and other people who care for abandon and unwanted pets it would truly be appreciated. Regards Debra Hayes 9 Baylor Crescent Georgetown ON L7G 1A5 905-877-6725 “If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” — St. Francis of Assisi
Debra Hayes