Animal advocates are beyond enraged after Sugar was found dead of starvation and animal attack

Animal advocates are beyond enraged after the body of Sugar, one of the Garner, North Carolina cats who was dumped Thanksgiving weekend, was found dead the morning of February 2 by Kathy Kamins and Karen Thompson, who have been involved in the search since the beginning. Sugar was taken in a pink carrier to a veterinarian, where it was confirmed by a microchip that she was one of the missing cats.

Sugar was cat #11. She was a senior kitty, declawed and missing most of her teeth. There had been several Sugar sightings over the past few months but attempts to trap this poor kitty were unsuccessful. Her emaciated body was found early Thursday near the same area she had been previously spotted in. Sugar had been attacked by an animal, but whether she was dead or alive at the time is unknown. Since there wasn’t a lot of blood involved, she probably died from starvation and an animal found her body.

Her tragedy makes it more important than ever for the petition against Terry Ray Beasley and Tamara Perezlazaro to gain as many signatures as possible. Right now the count is just over 5,000. The maximum sentence, from what I’ve heard, is 120 days jail time. Each are charged with 16 counts of animal cruelty and 16 counts of animal abandonment. Their next court appearance in Johnston County is set for February 28, but it’s unlikely the case will move forward at that time.

A lot of people don’t know about this, but Tamara messaged me on Facebook back in mid-December under her new name of Tammy Griffin. I didn’t know it was Tamara at the time and asked her whether she thought Tamara was afraid of Terry Beasley and that’s why she allowed him to take her cats. He’s a big man, standing around 6’4” and weighing about 230 pounds (information from one of his arrest records) Tammy messaged me back the following reply:

Tamara has also defended herself saying she didn’t take the cats off, her boyfriend did. I don’t know about you out there who worship cats, but if my man had loaded up my cats to throw them away, I’d have both arms wrapped around his legs or a wooden stake through his cold heart to stop him. A man would NOT leave my home with my cats under any circumstances! Agreed?

I would like to challenge these poor cats being dumped as a “mistake.” If this were a mistake on either of their parts, not all of those cats would have been released. Terry Beasley could have stopped opening doors and took the remaining cats back home. If this were a mistake, Tamara would have kicked him out of her life. I know I would have, should someone attempted to harm one of my cats. Now not only is she still with him, but a screenshot has surfaced saying they want to add what I would call a “lifestyle partner” to their relationship.

Next, we need to look at who allowed her to pull so many cats from Cumberland County, and who pulled for her once she was banned from rescuing the shelter cats. Shelters definitely need to hear warning bells when too many cats are being pulled by one person, should that person not show evidence of a lot of adoption events. Because there ARE reputable rescues who save a lot of shelter cats because they’re able to place the cats into loving homes that have been checked out for quality assurance.

From what I’ve gathered, Tamara was freelancing in rescue and not affiliated with any particular rescue. If anyone has additional information on how she went about getting the cats after she was banned, please comment and let us all know.

As for North Carolina law, the anti-cruelty statute provides that if any person shall maliciously kill, or cause or procure to be killed, any animal by intentional deprivation of necessary sustenance, that person shall be guilty of a Class H felony. If any person shall maliciously torture, mutilate, maim, cruelly beat, disfigure, poison, or kill, or cause or procure to be tortured, mutilated, maimed, cruelly beaten, disfigured, poisoned, or killed, any animal , every such offender shall for every such offense be guilty of a Class H felony. CLASS H FELONY = Low-Level Felonies.

Not all felonies carry mandatory jail time. Many property-related crimes, such as felony larceny, embezzlement and obtaining property by false pretenses are low-level Class H or Class I felonies for which a defendant can receive probation. Certain drug offenses, such as possession or small sales of controlled substances, are also considered low-level felonies. Often, a probationary sentence for these offenses carries special conditions such as house arrest, jail weekends, community service or substance abuse counselling. Prison sentences in North Carolina for a conviction under a Class H felony typically range from four months up to 25 months!

PLEASE sign this petition asking for the maximum sentence! If you’d like to personally contact the Honorable Judge Susan Doyle, her phone number is (919) 209-5520. It’s believed by those in the rescue community that Terry Ray Beasley will take the fall for this and Tamara will pretty much get away with whatever part she played.

To see that Tamara pays for her role in the dumping, we may have to hit the case from a pledge/financial standpoint. Someone needs to get the pledgers to call the county where Tamara has charges (Johnson County, NC) and make a complaint about the money she took for each cat… and if it is enough… they will refer the case to the state law enforcement… and then someone in NC needs to volunteer to meet with their fraud department and show them how to investigate the pledges… and if she took enough money from people then she might could get charged with that.. as pledgers we need to do this every time a person is charged with animal abuse that we paid good money to them for.

There are many photos involved in this case that appear too horrific to post on this article. I STRONGLY URGE cat lovers to NOT click on this link but realize some may need to see the outcome in this case as to what Terry and Tamara have caused.

An article with some excellence research can be found here (I suggested everyone check it out). A short video of Sugar’s memorial service can be found here.