7th June 2019: 4KXLF.com tell us that the authorities have found the woman who dumped 10 cats and 1 dog at the roadside after she unsuccessfully tried to relinquish them to Critter Adoption and Rescue Effort, or C.A.R.E. This rescue organisation have a Facebook page and on 4th June they were asking people if they could identify the woman as she was photographed in her car by security cameras.
I have lightened the images to make her more visible.
It is obviously illegal to abandon cats and dogs in this manner. Having been turned away by the shelter she seems to have made up her mind to get rid of her pets as quickly as possible and dumped them not far from the shelter on the side of the road.
At one time only one cat had been caught but gradually all of them have found except an elderly dog who remains at large.
We are told that investigator Roger Mills said that the woman did not know that it was illegal to abandon animals. However, C.A.R.E on Facebook said:
“The individual who dumped the animals had been given a long list of other places she could take them to. She had the resources and information but chose to not help them and instead turned them loose.”
This appears not to be a case of a desperate person having no other option and being ignorant of the law. She appears to have known what she was doing. She’ll be charged with 11 counts of a misdemeanour.
The news media say that most of the cats are now cared for by the Hillsborough County’s Pet Resource Center despite the shelter suffering from overcapacity.
