A Christmas miracle: Another cat trapped and in foster care after being abandoned in Garner, NC
Thanks to the team at Operation Garner, another of the 17 cats (originally listed as 16) dumped by two scum-of-the-earth people in Garner, North Carolina, has been trapped and is safe. Wally, a black and white declawed beauty, was captured just in time for a Christmas miracle and his microchip confirmed. This brings the total to 9 of the 17 cats being recovered since they were abandoned on November 29. Sugar, a white beauty, has also been spotted but is trap-shy. Operation Garner is in the area this morning (as they have been every day for weeks) trying to catch Sugar and the others who remain missing.
Wally was captured Christmas
Since the first article I wrote for PoC on this situation, I’ve received messages defending the couple who dumped the cats. It’s said they “made a mistake.” My question is what kind of cold-hearted monster would dump their cats, cats they were supposed to love, to fend for themselves in freezing temperatures, rain, facing starvation and dehydration and having to fend off attacks by coyotes, hawks, bobcats and let’s not forget TRAFFIC. This act of animal cruelty goes way beyond being a “mistake.”
Wally was transported to safety
This was no mistake, and the couple needs to be held responsible and charged with animal abandonment and animal cruelty because putting a cat out with no food or water is about as cruel as you can get without actually killing the cat. Animal cruelty is a felony in all 50 states, yet no charges have yet been filed, but the female monster who helped with the dumping has taken down her Facebook page.
Missing! (except Wally)
Last week was an around the clock effort by the team of Operation Garner. These ladies and gentlemen stayed out in the cold, setting traps, following leads, and worst of all they had to deal with a dead cat who looked a lot like Wally. While everyone else was enjoying pre-Christmas preparations with their family, this team was trying to put right what an evil couple did. Take a good look at Wally’s nose. He had to FIGHT something out there just to stay alive! And he’s lost a lot of weight since he was thrown away.
MISSING!
One new addition to the list of missing cats is Froz, who belonged to the son of this woman. Since Froz is a common black cat and not microchipped since he wasn’t from the Cumberland County shelter, it will be nearly impossible to identify him. A black cat was found dead at the beginning of the search, so Froz may be dead.
Froz is also missing
Helping on the front lines as well as with coordinating the sightings, passing out and posting pamphlets and internet updates were/are
Kellie Wester (My Friendly Ferals Rescue)
Laura Johnson
Susan Shaddock
Kathy Couture Strachan Kamins (#TheKaminsKrewRescues)
Christine Zois (Feline Canine Fellowship Coalition-501c3 non-profit)
Joel Campbell
Silvia Delespinoza (Puffie’s Rescue from Siler City, NC)
Suzanne Suzy Melton (Suzy’s Zoo Sanctuary for Special Needs Kitties-501c3 non-profit)
Jeremy Melton
Vicki Cruse Capstaff
Anne Smiley
Beth Surdakowski
Felicia Corbett
Jeremy L Melton
Jody Nikirk
Judy Magenheimer
Karen Thompson
LaVonda Fowler (Paw Project of Coats, NC)
Lori Jones Register
Lori Parker
Myra Dyer Murphy
Nancy Yarosis
Pam Thomas
Rebecca NoiJaku Yarosis
Regina Sue Hite
Tyler Corbett
A better photo of Sasha, still missing
Time is running out for these cats and the Operation Garner team will be out there day and night until the cats are all captured or it’s believed they didn’t survive. Recovered so far are Unnamed Black cat, Louie, Cheddar, Nemo, Chester (FIV+), Bearus, Cali, Claudine and Wally. Since Carina and Tara Rescue had open space with A LOT of adoptions, she welcomed Cheddar and Nemo with open arms. Two days later, they found really nice forever homes with these couples. Chester was adopted as well by cat advocate Nicole Ferrara.
Once abandoned, now adopted-Nemo, Cheddar & Chester
Please keep the missing, along with those out on various properties in the Garner, North Carolina area, in your thoughts and prayers. They’ve all given up a major part of their Christmas to find these poor cats before time runs out.
Elisa
Elisa, a year has come and gone since this article was written about the despicable people who tossed out the cats. Is there an update? I’m hoping against hope that more cats were found alive. Any legal action taken yet against these horrible people?
I’m so glad to read this. Abandoning these cats was horrifying, but a declawed cat too? Unbelievably bad.
these rescue people are wonderful. the white kitty being trap shy, one thing which has worked for me is to rig trap where it will not go off and use it as a feeding station for a few days , covered on 3 sides with plastic table cloth, after a few days watching others eat they loose their fear and you can trap them.
also tamara had many cats she had rescued from cumberland and other shelters, cats she used to illegally collect pledges for and cats she conned innocent people into supporting, where are these cats?cumberland should release a list of every cat she has picked up from there and tamara needs held accountable.
I admire these people hugely. My admiration is as strong as my hatred for the people who made a “mistake” in abandoning the cats.
Poor Christine is likely to have PTSD after this is over. She kept finding dead cats, including the one who looked so much like Wally. I told her it wasn’t him, but still it had to be horrible knowing the cats she found were unloved and unwanted or else they’d have been in a safe place instead of out wandering the streets.
is it possible the dead cats are tamaras “missing” rescues. if not i question why no one is making a honest believable attempt to find them, i asked this question numerous time in the “personal” cat rescuers pg and have have not even had one person or one rescuer comment????? why is this question being ignored?
I don’t think the one who looks like Wally who was found dead was one of Tamara’s abandoned cats. I do know Christine and I think Suzanne found a dead black cat early on in the search but Tamara’s black cat named Froz who is missing wasn’t microchipped since it didn’t come from the shelter and it would be almost impossible to identify. I’ve been on a thread for over a week and there are people out there day and night searching and setting traps. One problem they’ve come across is a few people are not wanting them on their property to look for the cats.
Terri, the first black cat who was found in the immediate dumping area, his head was smashed beyond identity after being hit by 3 different cars in a row. He was picked up by the county, before we could try to identify, but the 2 remaining black dsh males missing, were not Cumberland cats and were not chipped.
The other white and black dead cat, was not declawed and not chipped, nor was he in the immediate dumping area.
This is a community Terri, where countless numbers of cats, are running rampant, due to not having any low cost spay neuter available and because people drive down the rural streets, as if they were driving along the Daytona Speedway, aiming and picking off animals in their paths.
It is my understanding that the list we were furnished, is a complete listing of the cats that were unaccounted for by the Cumberland County Shelter and considered personal indoor pets of Tamara’s and or her sons. Suzy and I picked up the last remaining Tabby boy she trapped last Saturday night.
Rest assured, Team Garner, remains on sight, searching and committed to finding the remaining cats, and I hope this answers your inquiry.
One of the dead cats had been picked up by the city before the rescuers could collect the body. The second dead cat was taken to a vet to be scanned for a chip. As Elisa said, people are searching every day, including yesterday. Flyers have been distributed door-to-door and posted in area businesses. Facebook posts are updated regularly. There are many ferals in the area that are being trapped and of course they have to be TNRd so that is throwing a spanner in the works. And, as Elisa also said, locals don’t want strangers on their property ostensibly searching for cats when really they could show up with the flyers but be there for an entirely different reason (this already happened, BTW), or when it is the resident’s own cats that may be trapped (also already occurred). If this doesn’t address your question, I don’t understand what you are asking. I don’t see that much more could have been done to find these cats other than Tamara Lazaro and Terry Beasley actually getting off their dead asses to help.
Their dead asses are probably afraid of Team Garner’s live asses. They’re hated by more people in NC than anyone else I can think of.
I’m not sure they are that smart. I snarked on her big time on the Offer Up app for trying to sell the cat food and supplies, and her response was to let me know that the items are now sold.