By Elisa Black-Taylor
Kaitlyn Hughes was the only mommy a little orange tabby named Porkchop ever knew. He was only five months old last month when he escaped unnoticed from his home and was found by a neighbor, taken to the Mobile County animal shelter, and killed one minute later.
Kaitlyn is suing Mobile County, Alabama (acting on behalf of Mobile County Animal Shelter) for an undisclosed amount on charges of wanton negligence in a effort to bring reform to the shelter system, making them accountable for the murder of her perfectly healthy kitten.
Kaitlyn was on her way out the door around noon to run errands last month and didn’t see Porkchop run out the door. He’d never shown any interest in going outside, and had lived inside his entire short life. A neighbor found Porkchop and kept him for about two hours before taking him to the shelter. This is a very long story, so please read it when you have the time. It’s at http://lifewithcats.tv/2013/02/11/porkchops-tragic-death-at-shelter-inspires-petition-for-reform
After searching the neighborhood and the county and city shelters, Kaitlyn was eventually asked by her neighbor as to whether she’d lost a small orange kitten. When the man told her he’d taken Porkchop to the Mobile County Animal Shelter, she immediately called the shelter and told them she was on her way.
In her opinion, the shelter personnel weren’t very nice to her and couldn’t understand why she hadn’t seen Porkchop the day before when she searched their shelter. Kaitlyn was told at the front desk to go on back and search the cat rooms. Still no kitten. Finally a shelter employee named Andrew located the file and told her a very different story from the one the neighbor gave.
The shelter eventually confessed, saying Porkchop was turned into the shelter in a trap used to catch ferals. The neighbor says the kitten was never in a trap until he handed it over once he arrived with it at the shelter. The neighbor allowed the kitten to remain free while in his vehicle and had orange kitten fur covering his car upholstery to prove it. There is also video footage from the shelter to disclaim Porkchop arriving in a feral trap.
This is where things get really disturbing. The shelter has an unwritten “policy” to kill ferals on arrival because ferals don’t usually make good pets for the general population looking for an adoptable kitten.
However, the shelter has a written policy that all healthy strays turned into the shelter are to remain there for at least seven days. Then an evaluation will be held to determine whether the stray would make a good pet.
Porkchop escaped from his home at noon on January 10. According to shelter paperwork, he was processed at intake at 4:08p.m. At 4:09p.m. he was euthanized. The shelter defended their action to euthanize little Porkchop saying he was “feral and aggressive.” They must be BRILLANT animal behavior experts to be able to determine this in one minute!
Kaitlyn is suing the country, as well as everyone at the shelter who played a part in the murder of her healthy, lost kitten.
Comments, anyone? I really need to end this article before I go on a rampage and say things that really shouldn’t be on record. In other words, my mouth is about to engage before my brain. What is WRONG with the people who did this?
Michael: I’m not even closed to being riled…yet. =)
After 11 years in homicide, believe this clown doesn’t even have the power to rile me. But, he is fun to kibbitz with. These types always lose in the end.
Yup….you are an idiot. You obviously are ignorant of laws as well. There is no such thing as a “criminal negligence” law regarding animals who accidentally escape their domain.Very few spend any time behind bars with the exception of the most severe cases of animal cruelty.
Dale: So you are saying cats are a detriment? And, you are saying I am a detriment to society? How can that be? Cats help keep rodents populations down. Many are used for companion therapy. As for me, not ONE day of welfare in my life. No handouts of ANY kind.
You on the other hand whine like a sick socialist that believes in getting rid of everything you either don’t agree or doesn’t agree with you. Must be a wretched life for you. You carry a lot of bitterness. Did a cat poo poo in your flower bed?
Thanks Marc. I have to agree with you. I’ll do my best to ban him totally. He has become more sophisticated ;). This is probably because of what we have written. It is surprising. I’ll see what I can do.
Michael I think you really should just delete him the second you smell him. It’s probably the only thing you can do which will bother him anyway. Having a discussion with an *ssh*le is a waste of time and bad vibes but not useful counter argument. I think you should make sure as few people as possible ever get to read anything he writes so he has very little to get off on. I bet he is incredibly ugly and short and incapable of living with a woman. He always talks about protecting his so called familly on his land but he probably has no familly. That’s why he is trying to make friends with the native insects and mice in his yard. If he can’t be polite and if he insists on being rud then he has no place here and is simply abusing the fact that you let him speak. People who are crazy always think that they make perfect clear word for word sense and everybody else is incredibly stupid not to see it their way.
Woody – you are the only one who cannot tolerate cats or cat people, so why are you here? Also, alot of people love cats and alot more people have no problem with them and are fine with other people having them. If you cannot tolerate living in society then I suggest you go and live somewhere in your huge state where there are no people. Isnt that the great thing about the US. You can always have as much space as you want – you can totally go and live away from everything you don’t like. Maybe there is even a village of people like you somewhere that you can go al b*tch about cats all day. To be honest the only thing that sucks is you. Why are you even here if you hate us? Please just admit that you live for hating on people you don’t like. Thats one of your favourite things to do, to prey on us and troll cat forums. How does it feel to be the only one most of us have ever seen doing what you do? Where are all your invisible friends who agree with you and who also go and murder cats because they think cats are evil.
Woody, you are the only angry cat hating internet trolling loser I have ever met. I think because most cat haters dont know how to use the internet and to be honest they are probably too busy trapping wolves and Bobcats. Do you have any other purpose in life? I would love it if you didn’t even reply to this so I don’t have to scroll futher down the page. You are going to die Woody. What a stupid life you live. You will die hating cats. Cats have really got you so bad in this life Woody. Cats 1 – Woody 0.
Good people, decent people, regular visitors, don’t get too riled by Dale. He’s probably/possibly Woodsman in disguise. He’s bonkers.