My husband Sean's grandfather died about a week and a half ago. He was very sick, had congestive heart failure, and was in the hospital for about two weeks before he finally passed. He knew he didn't have a lot of time left, so he had given some instructions for his belongings and his house, along with a warning that the stray cats he had been feeding had pretty much taken over his house.
He had always put food outside for the stray cats in the neighborhood, but since he was too weak to chase them out of the house, they had found their way inside and basically set up camp. He didn't have litterboxes or anything like that, and since he was so weak, the animals did whatever they wanted.
After he passed, the family went into the house and cleaned it up. At that time, there were only a couple of cats still inside, and they were obviously strays. They bolted as soon as the doors were opened, not to be seen again.
Now, every single member of my husband's family has at least one, and up to five, cats. We are not cat-haters. If there were cats that needed to be cared for, they would have been cared for.
Friday night, I was laying in bed watching the news. The top story is about a senile elderly man who abused cats by locking them inside his house with no food, water, or litter after he died, and his family that doesn't care whether the cats live or die.
That's right. The house was Sean's deceased grandfather's house. His grandfather was neither senile nor abusive to these cats, and while they weren't really living in the most ideal conditions, the cats were at least sheltered and fed. Sean's grandfather had been a high-ranking member of the United States army, and was a very proud man who refused help from his family, who was self-sufficient until the day he admitted himself to the hospital because he knew his time was just about up.
And the family, after cleaning the house, saw NO CATS that needed to be rescued. They either left for their homes, or found other shelters, or... had worse fates... but the point is, if there had been cats around that house, one of us would have caught them and taken them somewhere SAFE.
So, after seeing this totally inaccurate report on the news, and noticing that a basement window had been broken, we went to investigate what was going on. As it turns out, an animal rights activist group BROKE THE BASEMENT WINDOWS in the house to let the cats in, so they would have "shelter." So, one, they destroyed property. Two, they let the animals inside after we spent ages cleaning that house.
And the worst part of it? Now, since more cats than Grandpa had EVER fed (he had about five that came around regularly; the humane society took FORTY CATS out of there on Saturday) were using the house for shelter, the "Humane" Society came and got the cats. WHERE THEY WILL ALL BE EUTHANISED.
I'm astonished, sickened, upset, and heartbroken. Not only is the news painting my family out to be horrible, awful people... not only are they defaming the character of a man who was proud and gentle, and just wanted to feed homeless animals... the animal rights activists effectively ended the lives of these cats by gathering them all in one place and serving them up on a platter to the Humane Society.
This has kept me awake the last two nights. I don't know what to do. There's no way we could have rescued 40 cats, even if we had known they were there before the Humane Society got them. But I feel so bad.
Sigh.
Just needed to vent.
