This is another update and the final one on Samson the cat who was dumped in NC on June 22nd 2017 by Michelle Raymond who was charged and convicted of animal abandonment and cruelty. Specifically Raymond was charged with the misdemeanour charge of abandonment of an animal and the felony of cruelty to animals. Michelle Raymond pleaded guilty to both the misdemeanour and the felony charges.
Backstory
You can read more pages on this case by clicking on this link.
“The woman who threw Samson out of her vehicle away into the street last Thursday and left him sick with urinary disease to die has been arrested this afternoon and taken into custody into the city of Monroe jail.”
Sentence
Samson’s story, received a lot of coverage online. He was abused and dumped. After a long journey through the criminal court the Justice for Samson Facebook page reports that Michelle Raymond’s sentencing on conviction was:
- She will be on supervised probation for a period of 12 months
- She has to complete 24 hours of community service
- We (Justice for Samson) requested that her community service be done at an animal shelter; Judge cannot require that but he can recommend it
- Pay restitution to Zach’s Rescue
The criminal aspect of the animal welfare laws of NC appear to be too soft. A lot of people wanted Raymond to receive a stiffer sentence.
Samson’s Facebook page tells us that Raymond was convicted of a felony. However, the sentence appears to be light. NC charges dictate sentencing and reflect the attitudes on animal cruelty in North Carolina. Tougher animal welfare abuse laws are needed in this state.
Happy Ending
However, the happy ending aspect of this story needs to be stressed. He is in a lovely cat loving home as the following pictures confirm. About 13 hours ago the Justice For Samson page reported that it has been about a year since Samson joined his new family. He looks well and content.
Happy Pictures
Rick Dohman says “Hello from Sampson. We are just laying around on this Sunday morning.” on the Justice For Samson FB page.
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Why is this cruelty to animals? But the common practice promoted by the SPCA of “Return to Field”, when no-kill shelters are full (part of all TNR programs), they take tame unadoptable, unclaimed, and unwanted cats and dump them out on the roadsides. Why is that not inhumane? The SPCA (“Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”) not only approves of this but they promote it on their very own websites.
You sure are a confusing bunch.
You’re obviously taking the piss and it is you who is confused. TNR involves returning cats to where there came from after spaying or neutering. It also involves feeding. Dumping is exactly what it means. It is removing the cat from domestic home and throwing him away where he won’t survive. Feral cats can survive quite well sometimes especially in managed TNR colonies. It is a fallacy to think domestic cats can survive outside the home on their own. Some can, most can’t and also the ones that can become more unwanted feral cats.
I guess you don’t know much about the TNR and cat-rescue programs in the USA.
facebook.com/AlleyCatAllies/posts/10156210237882088
aspcapro.org/blog/2017/04/07/lets-make-1-million-modest-ambition
The latter link describes this “Return to Field” policy of everyone who practices TNR in the USA.
“Return to Field: Sterilize, vaccinate and return healthy unowned shelter cats to the location of origin as an alternative to euthanasia.”
All TNR programs and cat-rescue programs in the USA promote pulling tame but unadopted and unwanted cats from kill-shelters and full no-kill shelters then dumping them on the roadsides–“Return to Field”. They see this as a way to let the cat find its way back to its original owner. I believe you even have an article on how this is also the more humane option. Do you want me to find your own article on this? Or can you do it for us.
What the hell are you getting at? I know a lot about TNR. I missed your reference to return to field. It makes no difference to my argument. Return to field concerns stray cats without a home or owner. They are returned to the urban wild after being in a shelter. Samson was dumped direct by owner i.e. the route is HOME (with owner) to STREET (where they have not been on a permanent basis). Whereas for return to field the route is SHELTER (no owner) to STREET (where they came from). The two are completely different and I am surprised you can’t see that.
Really? So it’s okay if a stranger dumps a tame cat on the roadside, but not the owner? One is humane and the other is inhumane? Please explain your contradiction. They both result in a tame cat having to fend for itself. I fail to see how you see that they are different. They are both completely equal with equal results.
I guess then, according to you, that if a stranger dumps a tame cat, and since that is humane (according to you and the SPCA and Alley Cat Allies), then you see nothing wrong with anyone trapping any tame cat and dumping it somewhere. You do know that dumping cats is illegal in every state of the USA, don’t you? The people who made those laws are clearly aware of what is and is not humane. This is why TNR advocates try so hard to get their local laws changed to allow them to legally dump cats. Few succeed. Intelligent and wise law-makers see how inhumane TNR truly is.
You are totally missing the point. In the former example the stranger is releasing an already semi-feral cat with no owner who has been vaccinated etc. by the rescue back to where she came from while in the latter example the owner is abandoning her cat from domesticated life to feral life where she will struggle to survive. They are quite different and if you can’t grasp the difference there is something wrong with you.
I won’t discuss this anymore because I am wasting my time. No more comments on this please. If you try and comment it will be moderated and deleted.
Don’t forget that Samson has severe kidney problems when he was dumped with out access to medicine.
Thanks Cat’s Meow.
What a pawsome happy ending. Samson looks healthy, content, and at peace in his forever home. 💜💜🐾
Yes, doesn’t he look great. It is nice to see rescue cats settled in loving new homes.