Despite one New York feral cat caretaker believing to the contrary, no one owns a feral, or genuine stray, cat even if they feed the cat or decide that they “keep” the cat along with others in a colony of stray cats. It seems common sense to me. A feral cat caretaker does not “keep” a feral cat. He or she “cares” for the cat.
This is a tragic story of nastiness and I suspect there may be an element of racism in this story although I stress there is no evidence to support that.
Gwen Jurmark did her bit to look after stray and feral cats in Raoul Wallenberg Park, Bronx, NY. Apparently, she fed them and perhaps organized TNR; I don’t know. She is one of the many feral cat carers that are all over America, who I normally admire, tremendously. Not in this case, sadly.
For some reason, one cat of the colony, a sick cat that had been neutered under a TNR program, with the usual clipped left ear, was singled out by a person, we are not told who. She or he took this cat to a local veterinarian, Dr. Shirley Koshi. The cat was named “Karl”. He was cared from Dr Koshi and his health improved. The fact that Karl settled in quickly indicates he was not born a feral cat.
Dr. Koshi appears to be of Indian nationality (wrong? please tell me). She was probably a naturalised American (granted American citizenship).
Weeks after Dr. Koshi’s treatment and care for Karl, Gwen Jurmark told Dr. Koshi, in so many words, that she “owned” Karl. That is the argument she made because she asked Dr Koshi to hand Karl over to her.
That was a ridiculous request because Gwen had no genuine claim, in my opinion. Feeding a genuine feral cat that is left outside to fend for himself has no legal human owner. In any case the law on cat ownership is archaic and out of date. But it gets worse because when Dr. Koshi refused to hand Karl over Gwen sued in the local court.
The court case naturally upset Dr, Koshi. Then Gwen appears to have organised a demonstration outside Dr Koshi’s surgery and made online attacks of her. Her business went downhill and she became badly depressed eventually taking her own life.
This is a ridiculously nasty tale of what appears to be malicious behavior by someone who should know better because she likes cats. People who like cats should be decent people. Apparently that is not always the case.
If the facts of this story are true, I am sure that in the eyes of many people Gwen Jurmark has behaved unforgivably because although we can understand an attachment to a cat, feral and genuine stray cats do not have a human owner.
Note (1): the full detail of the story is unknown to me and probably others. There may be other elements to the story which alter its morality. My opinion is based upon what I read. Note (2): Some “stray cats” are not really strays. They are wandering cats with a “legal owner”.
In my opinion no cat, feral or otherwise, is owned by a person. We live with our cat and look after our cat willingly. That is the mutual agreement and the law is a million miles from this beneficial arrangement.
These are my direct and immediate thoughts without reference to any document. If someone disagrees please tell me.
Note: My thanks to Rudolph for finding the story and telling me about it.
Yes, the person has to put aside her/his emotions and connections to the cats. These emotions are driven by personal interests – what the person wants and enjoys.
If people simply can’t let go when needs be in the cat’s interests they should not be in feral cat caretaking work.
What were they fighting over – “custody” or a emotional attachment, something to do with them? Karl was worth $30. What are they are fighting over? No one should fight over a cat. There is only one objective: the cat’s welfare. They could have shared that objective and shared ownership if they were so obsessed with that concept.
Right on the money, Ruth AKA.
You and Babz, always the sound of reason.
Here was my response to Rudolph’s comment:
Rudolph, I read this news article twice just to be sure I got as complete an understanding of this tragedy as I could.
My understanding is that the cat was a stray as opposed to being a feral and was living in a TNR’d colony that had a caretaker.
The cat fell ill, and a good samaritan took it to the vet who treated it and chose to keep and house it.
Then, a custody battle broke out between the caretaker and the vet.
This may surprise some people here, but I would have to side with the vet for the following reasons:
The cat appeared to be capable of domestication. Both the good samaritan and the vet and were able to handle it.
The caretaker lost sight of what may have been best for the cat. She was claiming ownership (MY cat, as opposed to “under my care”). It’s an easy thing to do. It, also, appeared that the caretaker had no interest in taking in the cat herself, but didn’t want the vet to. She was selfish enough to want the cat to stay out in the elements as opposed to having a good, safe home with the vet.
I caretake many ferals and know how hard it is to let go of cats. But, we have to love them enough to do what’s best for them. Personally, I would have praised and kissed that vet if she wanted to take one of my cats out of a colony and provide a home.
Gwen was wrong to try to deprive Karl of a better life he had settled in to, how selfish of her!
I think there must be a lot more to this story than we know, had Gwen a grudge against Dr Koshi for some reason and was using the cat as a pawn to spite her? She must have told her friends something to anger them and turn them on the vet.
It’s a very strange case altogether I think.
OMG, Michael!
I can’t believe this article appeared just seconds after I commented on it after Rudolph provided the link to the story.
You are absolutely 100% correct.