oh my goodness and I don't thin the humane officer is going to do anything

jen

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I called the Animal Protective League today on some crazies in a nearby trailer park. I have been out there about 4 times now helping a really caring woman trap some cats to take to a cat sanctuary in PA and across the street is a cat chained to someones front patio. Of course this struck me as odd but not only that, the cat was laying with it;s nose face down into the ground. Something is obviously wrong with it.

The woman who I was helping trap some cats said it is a middle aged man and his mother that live there. They have about 30 cats in the small trailer, none altered of course. And that one they chain up outside everyday. They do bring it in but still. The cat i sick, beat up, scabby, etc.

The guy is a wacko, there are no trespassing signs up all over their trailer, etc.

The guy at the APL said he will give the report to the humane officer (she knows me by the way because i used to work there). He said that if there is shelter and food/water, even if it is grimy rain water and stale moldy food, because of Ohios laws they can't do anything. Even if the cat is obviously sick. The only way is if there is no food, shelter or water. Of course nothing can be done about the kitties inside. Apparently it is so bad that in the hot summers it stinks up the whole area.

So does anyone know about Ohio laws concerning this? Is there really nothing that can be done? How come on the animal cops shows on Animal Planet you see the officers going into situations like this all the time and saving the animals? Are the laws there so different? Shouldn't they just be concerned with the welfare of these animals?

Is there anything else I can do?
 

margecat

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Is there any way, when they are not home, to, shall we say, "borrow" that cat? We "borrowed" an abused stray (and the owner has never asked what happened to it!). I realize this puts you at risk from the nuts, but it's just an idea. That cat needs to be saved somehow...

Best wishes,

MargeCat
 

margecat

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Also, many communities have rules about how many pets can be kept in a dwelling. Is there any way you can get the local humane society to crack down on them, and confiscate the animals?


MargeCat
 
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jen

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I thought about going over there and "borrowing" the cat. But I believe the mother stays home all the time. I thought about getting my boyfriend to drive and pulling up, I would jump out and grab the cat, jump back in the car and speed off hehe. But they could get my license plate, they could shoot after me, they could hop in the car and chase me down. So I don't think that will be a good idea. I don't know. I am going to talk to the lady who traps the cats and see if she knows if they both leave at any time during the day. I don't think they leave the cat outside when they go somewhere though.

I guess the APL has been called on them before and they even set up a time with the woman I know who lives at the trailer park to pickup a very sick cat she caught. They arranged a time, she trapped the cat, and they never showed up. She called and called and she was told "oh ya the humane officer is on her way" and she never came. I think their biggest problem is that there is one officer for the whole county.

It is horrible. The next big city over has a good group of humane officers. But they are out of the county. I am going to call them anyways and see. I am definately going to look into "borrowing" the cat. But it has to be a well thought out plan because things could go drastically wrong if I am not careful.

Thanks, any more advice would be great!
 

celestialrags

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Try going through a health department/code enforcement. I see that on some of those animal planet police shows the health department gets involved and step up to say the people can't live that way, so they take the animals and get the people help too, educte them so they realize hoarding doesn't help but hurts they animals they "love" May be a dead end, but it may be a different approach, or they can lead you in the right direction, there little trailer must be piled with animal waste and stink. Some one must know how to get the ball rolling when dealing with these hoarders.
(Don't get caught borrowing, I was just reading a post in IMO forum with the woman arrested and in court for stealing
(rescueing) an abused dog


Just another suggestion (mabey not the best either) call and report a sick cat half dead on a heavey chain with no food/water, looks like it's having a seizer. Sneak any foo/water it has off and if and when they do come just tell them he stopped the siezers and has perked up, once they are there, mabey you can get them to check into it more, if the realize how bad off these animals are mabey some thing will get done.
 

catloverin_ks

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OMG! How awful!
I know me, I would "borrow" the cat and save its poor life. That is just AWFUL!! Why would they chain it up like a dog?
Those people DEF sound like some real whack'os!!!
 

vik61

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Just walk up with a pair of chain cutters and get the cat and then drive off. Nobody should be chaining a cat, that's ridiculous. It's torture. You know it and I know it so what if the law says it's under a porch as its shelter.

Okay, I'm calming down. A little.

If you want to know if the woman is home buy a box of chocolate and grab a small note book and pen and knock on the door pretending to sell chocolate to raise money for the local cat shelter. You figure with all the cats they have they are cat lovers, etc...

If she's not home, take the cat. If she is home, ask if you can have him.
 

margecat

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Ok, I don't live in Ohio, so I don't know the actual laws regarding this; however, you mentioned the smell. In my opinion, that's enough of a reason to get someone on the police force/SPCA to investigate--which means: swoop down and confiscate. I don't mean to sound rude, but perhaps the person you spoke to doesn't really know what they are talking about in these circumstances--surely, any fool could see that the animal is being kept in inhumane cirumstances--and I can't believe the local laws don't protect animals then. I want you to know that I'm not blaming you; but is there anyone else you could ask ASAP?

What gets me angry is that, because I keep acquiring cats (strays to foster), one of my friends who "loves animals" thinks (though she says it half-jokingly) that I "Border on the abnormal" in regards to this. I take excellent care of my babies; my house is very clean (my hubby says I border on the abnormal in regards to cleaning!); most people are shocked to find out I have so many cats, as there is no smell. I vacuum up cat hair fanatically, provide clean bowls each day (sometimes more), wash their bedding each week, clean litter boxes at least once a day, etc., and give them tons of love. Yet, because I have more than one or two cats, people think I live like the people you mentioned! Sorry, just had to get that off my chest...


Please let us know what transpires. All the best, and bless you for caring about the cats!

MargeCat
 

callista

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How many cats do you have, Marge? More importantly, do you have any pictures?


I don't have any more to say regarding the poor cat chained in front of that trailer, but I can certainly agree to "animal cruelty laws in Ohio are horrendous". I'm in Ohio myself, and there's still far to go in that respect here.
 

gizmocat

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Most communities have laws regarding public nuisances. If you can smell the trailer outside and the place is generally run down, you might be able to approach the government about this.

I'd say that animal abuse charges are best though.
 

celestialrags

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Originally Posted by gizmocat

I'd say that animal abuse charges are best though.
I do have to disagree slightly. These kind of people are not intetionally trying to harm animals (other then the chained cat
) To help these people they need to have education, they need to know it's not ok to have 30+ cats in a small place and not clean up after them, it's not ok to live in animal feces and garbage, it's not ok to have these animals without fixing them or providing shots, ect. They feel because they give them a home and feed them some food (even if it is rice and peas) they are doing good for them. They need help, and charging them isn't going to give them the help they need. Yeah they may go to jail, and pay a fine and these animals will get out of this situation. But, long term it will do no good. The next day they will get a stray cat, and then another, before you know it, it's right back the way it was. They need to know it's ok to save a stray and have a cat but need to know the proper care and know their limit, so they aren't living in filth.
They way I try to think when dealing with these kind of people is they aren't right, basically they are like little children, they have to be shown why some things wrong, how to do it right. You can't just slap a kid and take some thing away, they will just go and pick it up again, you tell them why they can't do it, and what they can play with instead. Dealing with puppy mills and cruelty (this is our idea of cruel, but I am talking about abusive people intentionally harming not hoarders) is a completely different matter and should be handled differently.
Jen, I talked to my mom yesterday for a couple minutes she just had surjory and wasn't feeling well, so I didn't get into any thing with her, and my daughter was up all night sick so, I haven't gotten any where today. Mabey I will call her when I get off line (I have dial-up
)
 

tnr1

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Originally Posted by Jen

I thought about going over there and "borrowing" the cat. But I believe the mother stays home all the time. I thought about getting my boyfriend to drive and pulling up, I would jump out and grab the cat, jump back in the car and speed off hehe. But they could get my license plate, they could shoot after me, they could hop in the car and chase me down. So I don't think that will be a good idea. I don't know. I am going to talk to the lady who traps the cats and see if she knows if they both leave at any time during the day. I don't think they leave the cat outside when they go somewhere though.

I guess the APL has been called on them before and they even set up a time with the woman I know who lives at the trailer park to pickup a very sick cat she caught. They arranged a time, she trapped the cat, and they never showed up. She called and called and she was told "oh ya the humane officer is on her way" and she never came. I think their biggest problem is that there is one officer for the whole county.

It is horrible. The next big city over has a good group of humane officers. But they are out of the county. I am going to call them anyways and see. I am definately going to look into "borrowing" the cat. But it has to be a well thought out plan because things could go drastically wrong if I am not careful.

Thanks, any more advice would be great!
What about trying to engage human services.

Katie
 
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jen

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I just found out that there is a new Humane Officer at the APL which is where I originally called. I just sent an email instead of caling again to see if they can do anything. The last woman was horrible but this girl who is the officer now, I used to work with her a year ago for a very short amount of time so I am HOPING she remembers me and will take interest in my email. She always seemed more interested in the animals then the other humane officer ever did.

I just confirmed that there is no food or water left out for him when he is chained out. But considering that he isn't chained out all the time they might not be able to get them on that. His shelter is to go under the front patio if he needs to so that is covered. I know that if the humane officer goes out there, they will just happen to now have him outside at that time.

But I am going to call the owners of the trailer park and see if they can do anything about it. Maybe they have rules against that. But I don't know how those work, does the owner own all the trailers and rents them out or do they rent the lots out? Cuz if the trailers are owned individually then maybe there is nothing that can be done. But if it is causing a disturbance to the neighbors... oh who knows. I gotta figure something out though and if not then I will do a stake out from the trailer across the street or have her watch and let me know when they aren't home and I can nab the kitty.
 

celestialrags

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Originally Posted by Jen

I just found out that there is a new Humane Officer at the APL which is where I originally called. I just sent an email instead of caling again to see if they can do anything. The last woman was horrible but this girl who is the officer now, I used to work with her a year ago for a very short amount of time so I am HOPING she remembers me and will take interest in my email. She always seemed more interested in the animals then the other humane officer ever did.

I just confirmed that there is no food or water left out for him when he is chained out. But considering that he isn't chained out all the time they might not be able to get them on that. His shelter is to go under the front patio if he needs to so that is covered. I know that if the humane officer goes out there, they will just happen to now have him outside at that time.

But I am going to call the owners of the trailer park and see if they can do anything about it. Maybe they have rules against that. But I don't know how those work, does the owner own all the trailers and rents them out or do they rent the lots out? Cuz if the trailers are owned individually then maybe there is nothing that can be done. But if it is causing a disturbance to the neighbors... oh who knows. I gotta figure something out though and if not then I will do a stake out from the trailer across the street or have her watch and let me know when they aren't home and I can nab the kitty.
I hope the new officer will beable to do some thing. I think most trailer parks can have both owned and/or rented, so you will have to check with this trailer park. They may have a park rule of a certain amount of pets allowed.
Have you seen lots of cats in the home or is this about just the out door one? In one post I thought there were several cats and bad smell, do you notice it? If it is just the one cat that needs rescueing, can you take pics of him? camera phone or some thing? Take pics of any thing in the environment that looks harmful or just shouldn't be there. Get any of the area he is chained in and the chain of course make sure that any empty bowls are in the picture or point out there is no boels for water (Have to have water, mabey since he does come in, there being no food may not be enough to get the officer involved) If you can see any scabs, scares, missing hair, open sores, ect try to get a good shot of it. Start with bringing them to ACO, shelter, then the police, then health department, so so and so on until some thing gets done or I am bringing it to the Mayor.
 
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jen

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Ok I will get some pictures. That is a great idea. Can't believe I didn't think of it. The lady I know lives almost directly across the street from them. So I can just hang out there and wait for them to leave or at least the guy to leave cuz supposedly he is the scary one.

There are several cats inside and the smell is awful in the hot summer days. But I think I will have to go through the trailer park management people for that. The first main thing I am concerned about is the cat chained up outside.

Originally Posted by celestialrags

I hope the new officer will beable to do some thing. I think most trailer parks can have both owned and/or rented, so you will have to check with this trailer park. They may have a park rule of a certain amount of pets allowed.
Have you seen lots of cats in the home or is this about just the out door one? In one post I thought there were several cats and bad smell, do you notice it? If it is just the one cat that needs rescueing, can you take pics of him? camera phone or some thing? Take pics of any thing in the environment that looks harmful or just shouldn't be there. Get any of the area he is chained in and the chain of course make sure that any empty bowls are in the picture or point out there is no boels for water (Have to have water, mabey since he does come in, there being no food may not be enough to get the officer involved) If you can see any scabs, scares, missing hair, open sores, ect try to get a good shot of it. Start with bringing them to ACO, shelter, then the police, then health department, so so and so on until some thing gets done or I am bringing it to the Mayor.
 

celestialrags

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Jen
Has there been any updates on this? have you found any thing out. I hadn't asked my mother about it, she had been sick, and with all the holidays I forgot about it. I just posted in a thread you had and it made me think of this situation, I will get a hold of my mom if you haven't found any thing out yet, sorry about being so long, I didn't mean to forget. I hope that you have found a way to resolve this, if not, I am on it, LOL! Like I said, I could just be going in a dead end, but I think it is worth a try (asking my mother to talk to a friend of hers that is a lawyer, he may know what if any rules are being violated, or where you can go to get help) I hope I can get some thing from the lawyer to atleast get you in the right direction
 
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jen

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I am not ignoring your reply, just give me a few more days to figure things out and I will get back to you
 

celestialrags

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Good enough!
I did mention to my mother I was going to need her to help me with some info from her friend. I told her what it was about, I just didn't give much for details, I figured she can find out if he knows any animal rights laws, ect. If he doesn't know any thing about it, it may be some thing he will be willing to find out, so just PM me with any thing you have when you got it all together I will probley need to know your town/county, ect. So when you are ready just let me know. (again, I am so sorry I forgot about this, it really isn't like me to forget about animals that are in trouble and need help
)
 

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Thats ridiculus. They should be able to do something. That poor thing is obviously in need of medical attention. Ohio laws are so stupid. I can't wait until I move. Poor kitty.
 
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