by Michael
Craig Grant
What is going to happen to the 600-700 cats rescued from this discredited rescue centre? How many times must a cat be rescued before being euthanised? PETA has or had a reputation for advocating that the euthanasia of unwanted cats is the most humane thing to do. Have they changed their tune or are these poor cats going from Caboodle Hell to PETA heaven - literally?
It seems, however, that although PETA is involved the cats have been removed by ASPCA (American society for the prevention of cruelty to animals). Craig Grant is banned from returning to Caboodle Ranch although he is out on bail. In a $200,000 operation, the ASPCA have taken the cats to Jaksonville where a large number of volunteers are checking them out and making plans to rehome them. A number of the cats are microchipped providing details of the former owner. Apparently Grant retains ownership of these cats at present but I presume that the former owners will be contacted.
Some of the comments left on Elisa's major article, Caboodle Ranch Cat Heaven or Hell, were upsetting and I am sure some of the people who commented have now gone back to Caboodle to find their cats and recover them because that might be the only way of ensuring that the cats will truly be rescued.
People are saying that the cats at Caboodle are finally free from the diabolical clutches of Craig Grant. They say that it was a death camp where cats died a slow diseased death. Have these cats gone to better places? Perhaps the only better place is heaven, as PETA advocates?
It seems that Craig Grant is in denial about what he has created. "Denial" applies to a lot of people who think they are doing the right thing in relation to cats - American vets who declaw come quickly to mind. And what about no kill shelters who kill.
Craig Grant did actually operate a no-kill shelter. That was the intention but he ended up killing a number of cats through neglect (what is the percentage - do we know?). ASPCA say that a large percentage of the recovered cats are ill.
Craig is still requesting donations on this page (at 2nd March 2012) despite a charge of "scheming to defraud" and despite having no cats to look after. In his defence I think he is a cat hoarder turned failed cat rescuer. He just lost the plot. It would seem to be all but impossible to try and do what he tried to do, provide a home for unwanted cats because there are too many of them, especially when you fail to spay and neuter the cats. Grant failed to spay and neuter the cats. I don't what percentage where unneutered but the Caboodle cats were breeding. How silly can it get?
What are the regulations governing the setting up and running of an animal shelter? Are there any? There must be some regulations but clearly they are too lax. I guess Americans don't like being told what to do by government.
However, isn't one of the problems a lack of suitable regulation over people in cat welfare? The same, incidentally could be said about the keeping of large wildcats: tiger and lions in the USA. A lack of regulation in that area of the cat world has led to serious problems too: Was the release of dozens of exotic animals a freak event?