The photograph will probably surprise if not shock you. An anonymous person delivered an unwanted cat in freezing conditions on the doorstep of the Humane Society of Midland County’s facility in a plastic box with a large rock on top of the lid sometime after closing at 7:30 pm and before opening the next day.
Therefore, this poor cat was trapped inside a plastic storage box for up to 12 hours (probably much less). Not only would the cat have suffered from the freezing conditions but also the rock on top of the lid could have fallen through the lid because it was seriously cracked.
A volunteer at the shelter said that faecal matter was frozen to the cat’s body and that the cat was in rough shape.
As expected, because cats are incredibly durable and great survivors, he is doing all right. The shelter staff have named him Rockefeller which I think is a great name bearing in mind the large rock which you can see in the photograph on this page.
He is being well cared for at the shelter and has been put on hold for seven days before he is put up for adoption. I don’t expect the cat’s owner to turn up to reclaim his/her cat when bearing in mind the way that he was abandoned (but see the postscript below).
The shelter volunteer, Diane Winkler, said that there are drop-off hours and volunteers and local law enforcement can transport animals safely in the winter. What she hinting at is that there is no need to relinquish your cat in this surreptitious and dangerous manner.
Postscript: This is an important postscript because it has occurred to me that the cat may have been a stray cat (judging by his appearance) and therefore the person who took this cat to the shelter may have been a decent person who wanted to help a stray cat and simply couldn’t take the cat the shelter at the appropriate time for a reason that we are unaware of. That would seem to me to be a possibility and therefore it should be said because one doesn’t one be too harsh and criticize a person who may be doing some good under difficult conditions.
Yes, I think you are right. I feel I have to try and account for all eventualities. Sometimes there can be unknown explanations.
Ah yes, and I don’t suppose they had a towel or pillowcase to put over the box.
Michael, you have a kinder heart than me. Even if the person lived in a studio apartment or was not allowed under his/her lease to have an animal or was allergic or had another animal, clearly they could have kept it for the 24 hours until the shelter opened. Especially since the poor cat was already confined in a container. Two of mine were left behind my vets office in a box. True they were probably born in March, but even that galls me. Maybe I have the heart of a hoarder. I don’t know.
Well I hope that cameras were rolling when they did that. I also hope that the cat will be adopted and not euthanized.
The sign in the window raises questions, doesn’t it?
Yes that’s possible, but even at my stupidest in life I still wouldn’t have done that or done it like that.