This continues to sicken me and break my heart. I'm copying this directly from the CLS web page. The link will follow.
"It’s been a week since our cats and kittens were ripped away from our loving arms by people who laughed as they took them away from us and our clean, beautiful shelter.
It is worse than we feared. Animal “Charity” “Humane” Society murdered 64 of our perfectly adoptable cats.
Each of these cats and kittens had a whole life to live. Each would have found a family to call their own. Some were completely healthy. Some had minor treatable illnesses, the equivilent of our common cold.
Keep writing your letters to the mayor, to the Vindicator, to Judge Belinki and the prosecutor, Paul Gains. If you can’t take time to write a letter or email, please give them a call. Contact info follows.
Judge Belinky, Probate Court 120 Market Street, Youngstown, OH 44503 (330) 740-2310 MCProbate@mahoningcountyoh.gov
Prosecutor Paul Gains 21 West Boardman St., Youngstown, OH 44503 (330) 740-2330
Mayor, Jay Williams, 26 Phelps Street, Youngstown, OH 44503 (330) 742-8701 Mayor@CityofYoungstownOH.com
Animal Charity4140 Market Street, Youngstown, OH 44512 (330) 788-1064
We miss our little friends so much and the silence echoes in our shelter."
http://thecatladiessociety.com/
http://www.facebook.com/catladiesytown?ref=search
I know many of the cats that were killed. I held them. I said their names, a few even tried to get into my purse. If I could have, I would have taken more. I even jokingly told Dave we had to get three. We were both being followed by groups, lol.
I wanted to take Rogan home. I LOVED HIM. He followed me from room to room, but another kitten named Thing 2 kept jumping in front of him and pushing him away. We couldn't take him because he was best with one or two people. This is his story:
This lovable, wonderful, extremely friendly pair of brothers were labelled “unadoptable” by Wayne County Humane Society in Wooster, Ohio. Why? What could they have possibly done? They didn’t want to be in a cage there. They wanted to be out so they could run and play. Little did they know that it would have such disastrous consequences. These two great kittens who want nothing more than to be petted and loved by their very own family found themselves on the euthanasia list with only days to live.
Lucky for them, a volunteer at Cat Ladies Society happened to see their photos on WCHS’ website and read their story. We called the humane society and made sure they were put on a much better list… the list of those taking a road trip to safety. Two days later, they were packed in the car and making the two-hour trek to Youngstown.
Since then, these brothers have shown us time and time again just how worthy they were to be saved. They run and play together, enchanting everyone with their antics. In fact, earlier today, they refused to get out of the lap of a visitor who was amazed that these boys could ever have been considered undeserving of a home.
Rogan was adopted this summer :-)
I had my eye on Gambit - for a long time. Every day I'd look at the website and see his picture. He was affectionate and gorgeous. We didn't adopt him because I just KNEW someone would snatch him up, so I wasn't worried about him not finding a forever home. This is his story:
Gambit is a mellow guy who gets along with everyone. He would love a forever home.
Gambit is a non-stop ball of energy, bouncing from one toy to the next, constantly playing. He loves jingle balls and scaling the huge cat trees in the Kitten Room.
Gambit is part of an interesting litter of kittens who were born at Schaefer Equipment in Warren. Their mother was abandoned at the industrial plant a few years ago. Eventually, one of the employees let her inside where she took up residence among the machinery. She continued to go outside regularly though, and before long, she became pregnant.
Over the course of a few years, she had litter after litter. The employees never considered it to be a problem because “we always found someone to take them,”….. until the one time they didn’t. The kitten who didn’t find a home? A female. She took after Mom, and soon found herself pregnant.
Faced now with two nursing mothers and 10 kittens between them, one employee finally said, “Enough is enough,” and called Cat Ladies Society for help. All of the kittens and moms were enrolled in our Wean & Return program to stop this endless cycle of kittens.
He was one of the 64.
Little did we know - we were adopted as soon as we walked in that door. Thing 2 had been there for almost a year by that time. He was abandoned on the front step of the shelter in a cat carrier with nothing but a Dr. Seuss toy (which is where he got his name). They pinpointed his birth date to be on or around the beginning of August, and he was less than a month old when they found him. He looooooooved me. And he loooooooooooved my purse. Anytime I'd kneel down to pet a cat, he'd jump in my lap. Or across my arms. He was coming home with us, damn it! We brought him home and named him Byfuglien, hoping that would make the Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup. They did - and then they traded Dustin Byfuglien... We didn't trade our Byfuglien. Was he completely healthy? No, he had an upper respiratory infection. Was he the only cat there sneezing? No. However - they were ALL receiving treatment. Not only was there a vet that regularly made the rounds at the shelter - they also would bring the cats to the vet if they needed immediate medical attention.
Fosters would come in and the owner would hand them prescriptions. If the cats were not completely healthy, you cannot place blame on the rescue. They were brought to them like that. They were brought broken, abused, dirty, neglected and yes - ill cats. Some were old, most were young and in litters. Some had missing eyes, and some needed eyes removed do to advanced infection. Some had missing legs, and one walked sideways due to permanent ear damage from an ear infection.
These were not show cats. These were not cats that were wanted nor loved by anyone other than the women that tasked themselves with nursing them back to good health - or as good as they could have. Each time I was there, at different times of day - someone was cleaning. Mopping, sweeping, cleaning out litterboxes - this was not a trash dump. Did it smell? Well yes - they had 80 cats! BUT IT WAS KEPT CLEAN AS BEST AS IS POSSIBLE WITH 80 CATS. Were they sick cats kept from the healthy cats? If it was a contagious infection? Absolutely. Unfortunately - as ANYone who has any CLUE about how infections such as URI are involved - transmission can and will happen BEFORE the carrier shows symptoms. So by the time the first cat gets noticeably sick - he may have already infected 3 others - Domino Effect.
Is Byfuglien sick? Yes. He started sneezing and becoming congested 3 days after we brought him home. The first night, he investigated everything. And rubbed his face on everything.
"Awww I looooove this chaaaair....MY CHAIR"
The second night, he investigated a little less, cuddled a bit more. By the third night - he was sneezing and flinging snot everywhere. We could have called CLS, but decided to take him into our own vet. We treat him for FLV, although I'm not convinced that's what it was since he had no other symptoms than snottiness and sneezing. He recovered quickly and is growing rapidly still. Should he have been slaughtered because of a sinus infection?? Had we not brought him into our family, I can guarantee you he would have been number 65. He was "unadoptable". He's a year old now, still has bouts of sneezing and still gets a bit snotty now and then. He's what the HSUS and Animal Welfare would consider unhealthy.
Want to hear the best part? Scarlett - our other cat - has absolutely no symptoms and never has. They have shared space, they have unfortunately shared water and food because Byfuglien is mostly cuddlebug, but part asshole. They play and fight and I can guarantee spit flies. They've drawn blood a few times. Scarlett is still just as healthy - and fat - as she always has been. And she actually comes out of the bedroom more.
Byfuglien is not unhealthy. He's just a snot nosed little brat. I can't think of what would have happened to him had he not said "Hey! You! YOU'RE MINE!" when I walked in that door.
Out of 80 cats stolen from these women, 64 are now dead. If this does not break your heart, you do not have one.
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