Accusations and then charges of cat abandonment against a cat rescuer have been dismissed allowing her to start adopting from the county animal shelter again.
Jennifer Frasier owned and managed Purfect Purbaby Rescue. In 2015 she adopted 931 cats from the Rowan County Animal Shelter. She’d then find homes for the cats or if the cats were feral she’d place them on farms or feral cat colonies.
At one time, twenty-five percent of all animals adopted from the Rowan County Animal Shelter went to Purfect Purbaby Rescue; then things changed.
Jennifer was accused of abandoning cats near Statesville. She was charged with abandoning cats by Iredell County Animal Control and banned from adopting cats from the Rowan County Animal Shelter by Rowan County Manager Aaron Church.
PoC reported on this on Jan 17th 2016. The question was whether she was acting in good faith and in the interests of cat welfare when acting as a cat rescuer pulling cats from the county shelter. The PoC article by Elisa Black-Taylor (an expert cat rescuer) focused on whether shelters should do background checks on cat rescuers before adopting out cats.
What transpired was a dramatic change in events. The Iredell County District Court Judge decided that the cat abandonment charges against Jennifer Frasier should be dismissed.
The reason is that although the abandoned cats were microchipped with Jennifer as the owner, she had passed on the cats to another rescuer who abandoned the cats. There is solid, signed paperwork to back this up. Jennifer had not abandoned the cats. Another person had. Jennifer had simply failed to ensure that the microchips had been updated. This is where microchips can go wrong. For me there is a question as to why she had transferred the cats to another person. This is surely a failing.
“We had all the paperwork, signed and dated, that verified that they were in someone else’s hands,” Jennifer Frasier said. “I hate that these kittens were abandoned, and I hate that it’s put a stain on all the good work we’ve done.”
Frasier wants to continue adopting cats from the shelter. Things have moved on however. Standards are being raised it seems or there is a desire to raise standards. Animal Welfare Director Patricia Norris wants foster carers and rescue organisations such as Jennifer’s to submit written applications before “pulling” animals from the shelter. Also, there has been a recommendation that these affiliated shelters should submit to inspections and agree certain standards such as a limit to the number of animals fostered by rescues. Jennifer arguably took in too many cats.
There is one last point. In the original article on PoC by Elisa Black-Taylor there were question marks over where Jennifer’s rescue cats has ende up. There appears to have been a lack of adequate records and there are question marks over vandalism of Purfect Purbaby Rescue. Some would say the vandalism was designed to cover up malpractice. We don’t know. Is Jennifer whiter than white?
Okay I’ll leave it there. Jennifer’s reputation has been somewhat redeemed, at least. This article is intended to make that clear in the interests of fair play.
On the source website for the article, Salisbury Post, there are some interesting comments. One by Kate Rohl said:
“Jen is such a kind hearted lady, I knew there was no way in hell she was guilty of abandonment. The group those cats were signed over to need to be CHARGED with abandonment!”
Another person, Janis Griffin Mullis, writes (about the new rules):
“If he limits rescues, then he allows animal control to KILL the cats not adopted in the few days they are allotted! Ridiculous!”
Shawna Heglar comments:
“Anyone who can readily cast stones at individuals who are spending endless hours free of charge to better our community and advocate for animals who do not have a voice then I suggest you join Jen Fraiser’s tireless efforts. The facts are…she is an animal advocate and assisting with the chronic issue of pet overpopulation. She actively has animals altered to prevent the enormous pet overpopulation. Go jen Fraiser! You have supporters who are on your side. I have personally viewed her work and adopted my Pippa the Pom and will always be a strong supporter.”
There are many supportive comments for Jennifer Frasier. But some questions remain unanswered if we are honest. That’s my take on this. If this is wrong then please tell me.
It’s not hard for me to love anyone who rescues cats, but…
It’s 25/75 to me.
Not understanding why any rescuer would pass her cats to anyone unless in dire straits and not checking reputations.
As much as we all hate it, any protocol in place must be followed. Jennifer may be a wonderful rescuer, but she failed to ensure and FOLLOW UP as to whether her cats were adequately cared for. An out of sight, out of mind situation. I follow up every 3 months for a year after adopting out.
Sorry to say, but I would have burned her in court.
When you shift the burden of transferring the chip to the person relinquishing control of the animal to someone with verifiable identification and address you won’t have this problem. I believe it was the American Saddlebred Association that migrated transferring ownership to the seller to avoid having registration papers lost.
Anyone working in the capacity as a foster or rescue should have minimum standards and a license.
One of the most abysmal messes I ever participated in was a horse rescue where the owner shut the gate and move out of state. I believe one of his defenses was he left someone in charge.