As the readers here know, I’ve devoted a lot of time to exposing abuse in U.S. shelters. This is one of the worst cases of neglect I’ve ever come across.
Meet Monte Cristo, who was left as a “bite hold case” after a child picked him up and was bitten. Monte is a stray, and wasn’t used to being handled by anyone. So on November 21, Monte Cristo is put into quarantine at the Columbus County shelter in Whiteville, North Carolina. He was eligible for rescue on November 30. According to information provided on Facebook, Monte Cristo was a scared stray/semi-feral who would need socializing.
This did NOT give the Whiteville shelter the right to ignore his health issues. Thankfully, Suzy’s Zoo Sanctuary for Special Needs Kittens in Saint Stephens, South Carolina rescued Monte Cristo on December 2. What Suzy found amounted to horrific neglect, as you can see by the photos above.
According to a post on Facebook: SuzanneSuzysZooMelton, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture rules haven’t been followed by the shelter in this case. It’s alleged that only once when a volunteer was asked did this poor cat receive clean bedding to sleep on. The rest of the time he lay in his litter box.
Suzy updated her friends and supporters December saying (and I AM leaving this in all caps as it appeared)
“THIS IS HOW MONTE CRISTO WAS FOUND TO BE AFTER 11 DAYS IN SHELTER – EVEN THE FEET ARE BLISTERED ..PENIS SWOLLEN AND CANNOT BE RETRACTED.. THIS KITTEN WAS LEFT AS A BITE HOLD CASE AFTER BITING A HUMAN CHILD WHO PICKED THIS KITTEN UP.. WAS NOT A PET.. WAS STRAY.. FOR AN INITIAL 3 DAYS WITH NO BEDDING OR EVEN DRY PAPER IN A CAGE.. SO LAY IN LITTER ALL THE TIME.. ONLY ONCE WE ASKED A VOLUNTEER TO PROVIDE BEDDING DID IT HAPPEN.. THIS KITTEN HAS BEEN NEGLECTED .. SHELTER CARE HAS BEEN MUCH LESS THAN IT SHOULD BE.”
No one at all at the shelter noticed how infested and damaged this cat became. That’s neglect, and shelters who neglect the cats in their care should be called out and held responsible.
Suzy posted a more positive update Wednesday night:
“We did only sitz baths until tonight to not “torture” him. But tonight when we did his full bath, the water turned red from flea blood (we put Revolution on him yesterday)! He is so happy and is purring gently! The first purr I have witnessed from him! His meds are taken and a bit of nutrical too. Ointment on his bottom and he is so much happier! I think he will recovery completely and I am hoping his little penis will be fine. It is also much less swollen and seems to be sliding back into the sheath.”
The best course of action is to notify Pat Sholar at the North Carolina Department of Agriculture. The email is AG****@nc***.gov. Whiteville has been developing a bad reputation this past year, and perhaps farther back than 2014. Perhaps others familiar with this shelter can leave a comment.
Monte Cristo is safe with Suzy, who will see he’s given the best of care and never feels unloved again. If you’d like to help Suzy with this kitty, and the many others she pulls from South Carolina and North Carolina each month, please donate a few dollars to su********@ou*****.com or straight to our vet at 843-797-1493.
Is this an isolated case, or do the readers visiting this page know of other shelters who neglect the animals in their care? Please leave a comment. And please thank Suzy for saving this precious baby.
NOTE: The tiny photo in the collage is a tick.
Please search using the search box at the top of the site. You are bound to find what you are looking for.
Thanks for the updates Elisa.
RIP little kitten. I’m sure Suzanne must be devastated, but I hope she can take some comfort from knowing that his final days were spent being loved and cared for. If she hadn’t stepped in, I dread to think what a lingering and miserable death he would have suffered at the shelter.
I’ll make a donation in Monte Cristo’s name to show my support for Suzanne and the fantastic work she does.
Squirt aka Monte Cristo has died
http://www.examiner.com/article/kitten-rescued-deplorable-condition-from-nc-shelter-has-died
We have another chapter. Monte Cristo (Squirt) had to be rushed to vet http://www.examiner.com/article/kitten-rescued-after-neglect-at-nc-animal-shelter-now-fighting-for-his-life
I just got this one online http://www.examiner.com/article/nc-shelter-director-where-kitten-suffered-neglect-speaks-out-to-local-media
News media has picked up the story here http://www.wwaytv3.com/2014/12/05/woman-kitten-found-neglected-shelter
Wtf poor little baby this is just horrendous so glad he was rescued & will have a loving furever home bless him! The shelter staff should get max punishment!!
Thanks for sharing your views Wendy.
Those photos made me wince, so I can only begin to imagine how painful it must be for that poor kitten. He looks so young and vulnerable. I’m just pleased to hear that he’s now being looked after by someone who genuinely does care about his welfare.
It’s shocking to think that shelters neglect animals in this way. If this had happened in someone’s home, the cat owner would possibly face prosecution for cruelty and neglect.
That is the point I made. It is a crime ostensibly. Certainly in the UK the RSPCA have prosecuted cat owners for less – far less.
Brad Hamms You are a sad person with a sad life that is so obvious. Why don’t you go somewhere and make a positive CARING contribution to society in a area you do care about! (if there is any thing you care about) If not just stay out of this arena where people do care about animals! You know I don’t like ignorant uneducated uncaring men, but I don’t seek out opportunities to insult them!
His love is for birds, Jan. And, that is the basis of his entire insane agenda in disposing of cats and verbally abusing cat lovers.
I love birds too we have feeders all over the property one of our biggest problems is protecting the smaller birds from HAWKS so we place the feeders carefully! My love of birds does not take away from my love of cats or dogs! It seems people who love cats care about all animals. Its not so much with the others I feel. A lot of dog people say they hate cats too (then when their dog does something wrong its in the pound) One of my cats was killed by a giant owl I still love owls. His love of birds? Brad just sounds like a FOWL mouth misfit with a bad attitude to me probable the only activity he is welcome at is solo bird watching!
Brad Hamms should go f**k himself and then go to Hell. He is a worthless troll.
I’ll delete his comments or most of them.
In case you or anyone are curious — the term that I use of….deleted by admin as I am tired of reading Woody’s stuck and rude record.
The hallmark of every last one of you useless cat-lickers….From Admin: I warned you, you idiot. If you use “cat licker” you’re deleted and banned.
I don’t want to comment, it seem to me like we still are living in DARK AGES, very sorry for this Kitten and others, if there are 🙁
This is more the rule than the exception in the North Carolina shelters I am familiar with. They don’t have enough money, their staffs are not trained, many staff members are old-school animal CONTROL (not animal CARE) practitioners who care little about animals they expect to kill anyway. New hires with less anachronistic sensibilities don’t last, so the oldtimers are left to continue their often inhumane practices.
Thanks, Susan, for commenting.
This is happening with shelters across the country. Many are now being shown how a shelter should be run so the animals aren’t forced to remain in this condition. But until each shelter is called out nothing changes. Even then we’re lucky to see change. Susan is very correct, especially about NC shelters
Shouldn’t there be some enforceable standard? In the UK the RSPCA would be around inspecting the place and closing it down if it there were indications of neglect and breaches of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
It would be a disaster to close it down. Surprise inspections and a trained and caring staff is what they need. There are a lot of lazy people in the U.S. who just want to sit behind a desk and not offer training or assistance. This is a hands-on job meaning everyone is needed to see the animals are care for and adopted.
I guess it comes down to commitment and funding. When I said “close down” I should have qualified it with “temporarily” while a review took place but the point you are making is that a flawed shelter is better than no shelter and even a temporary shut down would cost lives. I agree that.
If a county shelter closes it means animals will be dumped somewhere since there’s no longer a shelter. And many shelters that close down for a few weeks kill any cats not rescued and just start over when they reopen. 🙁
Susie Start this baby on some doxycycline to ward off any future issues of HemoBart and like blood parasites!
A lot of people don’t realize vets use doxy as a heartworm treatment. I’d forgotten it kills blood parasites and is fairly cheap to use. I’ve seen a few shelters start their cats on it upon arrival.
Yes Elisa that is true! We used to do that but at the advise of our old vet stopped. He said it was harsh on the cats esophagus. After that we saw all kinds of issues crop up we never dealt with before so we are going back to that! If you rinse with at least 3 cc of water that should take care of any residue. We have been mixing it with Viyo to give it to the cats and kittens. It was the only thing that cleared up one of the horrible Mycoplasma URI strains that a lot of the cats and kittens got at Cabarrus Shelter some did not make it but the ones we got on doxy quick enough did!
Suzy also occasionally takes desperately needy kitties from other states, including driving to pick them up herself if necessary. She truly cares about “the least of these”.
I work promoting the Greenville, SC cats and she rescues a LOT from that high kill shelter.
This is bad, very bad. I hate to see this. It is another angle on how shelters sometimes don’t shelter. Is the word “shelter” a misnomer?
This shelter is known for situations like this. People are urged to contact the NC DOA. From what I’ve heard people have been calling them all day and the Humane Society as well. There is no sense in this type of neglect.
This is one example. People like me ask whether there are others at the same shelter because there are likely to be.