Letter: PAW president responds to Bengal cat issue

Posted

Letter to the Editor;

On behalf of the Shelter, the board and I wanted to clear up some misconceptions about a local individual and a cat that temporarily came into our care.

On October 10th a concerned resident of the area brought in a pregnant female stray cat from Donnellson. This cat had no collar, no tag, no microchip, or any form of identification. Shelter employees and volunteers correctly logged the cat in and began the process of completing paperwork and caring for the animal, to our protocol.

One of our many protocols is derived from Iowa Code Chapter 18 Article 3 Section 18-106 that states "Cats must be held for no less than 3 days to allow documented owners to claim them." We went above the necessary 3 days and kept this cat for 7 days to allow the documented owner to claim them.

October 17th, the cat in question went to a rescue and then into a loving home to finish her pregnancy.

On October 23rd, we were contacted by a woman who identified herself as Candice Curry inquiring about the cat. When informed the cat was no longer in our care, she wished us to give her the name and phone number of this rescue, which goes against our policy that we do not disclose information about any adopter or rescue. This provides protection for the adopter and rescue against harassment.

As of today, 10/28/2020 the documented owner has never contacted us about the cat.

Ms. Curry has written to news outlets, rescues, called government officials, and posted to many Facebook pages looking for this cat. In her own posts, she has stated and admitted that she is not the owner, but also leads people to believe that she is. She has made statements on social media that there is an individual in the neighborhood where the animal resided that harms cats and that cats have gone missing out of the area.

We've been asked why we don't contact the rescue and why we haven't returned the cat. The answer is simple our name states our purpose. We are Protectors of Animal Welfare. We take the lives of the smallest kitten as seriously as the largest hound. We could not, in good conscience, return an animal to a dangerous or unhealthy situation and we strongly believe this cat's life would most likely be in danger.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me at brad.fortmadisonpaw@gmail.com

Regards,

Brad Walker President
Board of Directors
Protectors of Animal Welfare of North Lee County

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