Help! 250 Cats Have Disappeared! - Page 2

Hi Jewelcat

I was shocked to read your post, and can't believe this is happening in my own "back yard".

I also live in East County. I watch the KRON news each evening when I get home. We subscribe to the Times, which we read every day. I have seen/heard nothing of this until now. When were these articles published? I'm thinking that we need to contact the reporter who covers the Antioch area and re-ignite her interest.

Also, if Gary Bogue were aware of this I know he would devote some of his popular column to this problem.

Please let me know if there's anything I can help with.

I had written a letter and stuck it in my draft folder. It is to your mayor, and I just re-checked it and added to it and sent it. Here is a copy:

My name is Mary Anne Miller and I live in Sweet Home Oregon. I am a native Southern Californian though, and for the last 14 years, I have been active in rescuing abused and abandoned cats. Recently, through a cat newsletter that I belong to, I became aware of the disappearance of over 300 cats from your city.

I read with interest (and disbelief) statements made that 200 missing cats is "normal" because they "stray". Well sir, they do stray, but they do not stray far, unless it is mating season and the irresponsible owners have not spayed or neutered their cat. Then they go off in a quest for the female they scent in the wind. But they do no vanish in great numbers such as the ones in your city appear to be doing UNLESS they are being stockpiled in great numbers by people with evil intent and being sold for research.

The attitude of the gentleman that have responded to this dilemma, and it is a dilemma Sir, has been an almost apathetic shrug, so what, it is only a cat. True, a cat cannot vote, but their owners can, and you may very well have a problem on your hands especially if you are considering running for another term. No voter likes to see an official dismiss their problems and mock their pain. Plus, with the advent of the Internet, this story is no longer a local issue, it has been sent out by others all along the network, and I am sure you have been deluged by emails by now. If not, you soon will be as will your constituents.

I am sure you are proud of your city, and you may have done great things in helping to establish an animal shelter, so why drag your feet and whine that there is no "proof" of said crime and have your constituents say that the police have "more important things to occupy their time" then the disappearance of cats"? If these were missing children, and I am sure some of the owners feel like their children are indeed missing, you wouldn't hesitate to find the person behind this.

Someone is taking great advantage of your apathy Honorable Sir. They are stealing all the cats they can get their hands on and you are letting them get away with it! This does not speak well of an elected official, and I am sure the repercussions as this story continues to have a life in cyberspace, will cause you some (I hope) twinges of conscience and you will hopefully do the right thing, and light a fire under the police department for them to start an investigation. I have seen what evil people do to helpless cats, please do not make these felines more helpless than they already are by sitting back and resting on your laurels and ignoring this problem.


Sincerely,

Mary Anne Miller
Sweet Home Oregon

Hi Jewelcat

I am in Pleasant Hill.

I am going to be out in Antioch this weekend for a birthday celebration. If it's alright with you, I would like to make copies of the article(s) and pass them out to the people I'll see. If OK, please advise the date that the "best" article or best overview of the problem was published and I will go out at lunch and copy it onto a bright paper.

This tactic worked for my coworker who was facing a neighborhood problem that wasn't getting enough media exposure or attention.

Please keep us updated on this problem. I cannot believe these people!!! Jewelcat-you said you think you know who is taking them. If you can't tell us, I understand that you don't want to clue them in but do you have any idea what they have them for??????? It is killing me!

Hi Jewelcat

I'm sure you are busy with all of this and have not had time to reply to my earlier posts. I understand how that can be, but would like to ask again that you reply to this with some information, as I would like to help.

Because of the procrastinating pack rat that I am , I happen to have the past two months Contra Costa Times (give or take a few issues) in my recycle bin. I hadn't heard from you, so I looked over the front pages of them. Unfortunately I could not find the front page stories on your missing cats.

I'd like to know when the front page articles ran in the Contra Costa Times, and/or the dates that Gary Bogue mentioned this in his column. I have mentioned the cat disappearances to a couple of people I know in Antioch, and unfortunately they have not heard anything about this. I hope you understand my need to have something "on paper" to show them.

As I said in an earlier post, I will be out in Antioch at my cousin's for a birthday celebration this weekend. Their neighbors and some friends will be there, and I'd like to alert them of this problem. Almost everyone has a cat and I'm sure they want to protect them as best they can.

I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Hi Jewelcat

Thank you for your prompt reply. I did not realize you were trying to get in touch with me. I checked for a personal message but it says I have none.

Thanks for the link. It looks like a couple of the articles ran 29th December and 20th April in the Ledger Dispatch. Armed with this knowledge, I am off to the library at lunch to retreive hard copies of the newspapers to photocopy onto a bright colored paper. I will pass these out to my Antioch people and give them extra copies to pass around their neighborhood.

Thanks for your persistance on this issue.

Let me know if there's anything to be done locally.

Jewelcat, I'm sorry I didn't get back to you with some more material about how cats don't just stray in masses and become lost. I will try and get some soon - I've been in bed for the past couple of weeks, but now I finally got access to the computer again.