Highly furious!!(long, sorry)

Ok, where do I begin. A friend and I were driving the back way to my house which involves going behind this little plaza of stores. Its a long shopping strip. We saw this couple trying to catch some stray kitties. There were atleast 12 of them. We decided to stop and see what these peoples intentions were. The man explained to us that the land that the shopping strip is on is owned by two diff people. Half belongs to their friend and the other half belongs to a gripey woman. They notice that there are up tp 25 cats and kittens that hang around on a daily basis behind the stores. Being cat lovers themselves, they asked their owner friend for permission to catch the cats, get them spayed/neutered and checked up (all at their own expense!!) and find them good homes. So that is what they were doing. But the wrench in the process is that each day the other owner (the grouchy woman) is setting traps with kitty food in them behind the stores on her side of the property and in the woods behind the stores. She is collecting the cats from these horrible metal traps, tossing them into her car, and marching them to the animal shelter, claiming they are her cats, and asking them to put them to sleep. So these kitties arent getting a chance. If the owner of a cat wants it put to sleep then the shelter puts it to sleep the same day! The woman doesnt have to show proof that they are hers she just tells them that and every day atleast 3 kitties are dying. The couple who is trying to get them all healthy and find them homes have spoken to the woman, revealing their intentions. The woman says she doesnt care, the property is half hers and she wants the cats dead! I made a trip the shelter to talk to them about their policies and they confirmed that all a person has to say is that it is my cat and I want it put to sleep, and they do it!!! I alerted them to what this woman is doing and they didnt really care, they just said that it was her right! It is the only shelter in our town, and obviously, it isnt a no-kill shelter.
I dont know what else to do! I have been doing a very naughty thing though and at night I go and set off the traps so no kitties get in them. Very illegal, but this just infuriates me that she can get away with this cruelty, especially when there are people who are willing to help at no cost to her,, she is just plain mean!!!
Any advice, I am lost.
--Stevie
ps-this also worries me cuz this place is very near our home and if conner was to get out then he may end up there and could be put to sleep before I ever even had the chance to find him!!!

Well sabotaging those traps is a great start.
I guess you could look into whether or not it is legal, but if it turns out to be legal or that they just don't care, I don't see any other solution short of pro-cat terrorism
If she doesn't know you exist you've already got the upper hand.

Peace,
Brandon

I would do the same thing you are doing and stop her from catching them any way I could get away with, just be careful.

What would happen if you went to the animal shelter and told them she has been stealing YOUR cats and lying. How could she prove otherwise?

That would infuriate me no end. yeah for setting off the traps just don't get caught. I had something very similiar happen with one of my cats. A big white tom cat that liked to stay outside. He was caught in a trap and taken away and I did not find out about it till to late. and was not able to rescue him. I miss my Tim kitty and it still ticks me off to think about what happen to him.

Not sure,, They prob wouldnt believe me since I have already been there and spoke with their manager. After seeing her careless attitude,, well, um let's just say I didnt exactly handle the situation with finesse ..LOL
--stevie

i don't really have any advice to give, but i wanted to tell you how sorry I am to hear this happening. sabatoging the traps sounds good to me. Its hard to believe that people can be so heartless.

Maybe you should just take it up a notch and steal/destroy the traps.

Boycott and picket her side of the center.

Maybe you could have friends who aren't known to the shelter or it's management go there and say they're 100% sure the shelter has put cats belonging to them to sleep because of this woman's actions. If your friends are allowed to see the bodies of the cats that have already been pts, they can act "extremely distraught" over the loss of one or more of their "pets".

Wow that is horrable it makes me so mad

I don't have any advice sorry

but I think you are doing a top job with tripping the traps

be really carefull not to get caught I thought the thread that sugested pinching the trapes sounded like a good idea

Ok guys,, I have commited theft and stole the traps!!! I tossed them in a dumpster, and although I know it would happen,, It makes me nervous, Im like, oh great, theyre gonna know and find my finger prints LOL!!!!!!
I know I am silly!!!!!
We will see if this stops her,, keep fingers crossed!!!!!!

Fingers crossed that this stops her Stevie! Way too go.

Does this woman own a business? Would having a discussion with her along the lines of, this would be really bad for your business if it became public, help? If she was afraid that you would go public with what she was doing and that the publicity would hurt her business, maybe that would deter her? And if you combine the potential negative publicity with information on the commitment of the other owner's friends to trapping and neutering them, maybe she would cease her actions? Becky

This is the time when I call up the local newspaper and ask to speak with one of their reporters - or I write a letter to the editor detailing the circumstances - make sure you have your facts absolutely straight because the rebound publicity will be very negative and she may decide, especially if her business suffers, to try and see compensation.

Talk to your local vets and ask them if they are familiar with any animal support organizations in the city who will act with you. You could also get up a petition and get signatures on it asking for the local police or the local humane society to investigate the cruelty. Check with your local municipal council what by-laws are in existance as well, then ask them if they have a preferred format for petitions to be presented to council. If they do, make sure you use that format and then when you get enough signatures you can request an appearance to council to present it to them - or you can take it to one of your councilmen/women and ask them to present it to council. You want to create as much legitimate negative publicity so that this becomes an advocacy level and something has to get done. There are a lot of animal lovers out there who will be appalled - unfortunately, you are going to come across some of those unhappy individuals who dislike animals as well, and will fully support this woman's actions.

Good luck with whatever you chose to do, and thank you for being so caring.

Kathryn

Zanniesmom and Kathryn both had some great ideas. Whatever you do, just be sure that it's legal and won't come back to bite you in the butt. Maybe you could also print up some flyers that say this woman is needlessly killing cats and post them up around her business......at night of course when no one would know it was you. Try to get other people involved to help you.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Originally Posted by Sanctie

Ok guys,, I have commited theft and stole the traps!!! I tossed them in a dumpster, and although I know it would happen,, It makes me nervous, Im like, oh great, theyre gonna know and find my finger prints LOL!!!!!!
I know I am silly!!!!!
We will see if this stops her,, keep fingers crossed!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Good Job ^^
Rule number 1... latex gloves!

Peace,
Brandon

It might be illegal, but I say GOOD FOR YOU. I hope that the nice people can catch all of the kitties before she can do something else. ;-)

We will all back you up on here........I am sorry but what a @#$%......that is disgusting....Tell me the name of the bussiness and I will write a letter, and have everyone I know write a letter.....and definitly call the local news....they would eat up a story like this, and her bussiness would go down hill

Wow, all of your advice is wonderful guys. I have a few probs though. I dont know the woman's name. I do not know which business she owns, if any. I know she owns half of the strip that the businesses are on. When I met the couple who was trying to help the cats I only got there first names. I should have been more attentive and asked more questions but I didnt, I just sped right down to the shelter to have a word with them. So I cant necessarily bandy her name about or threaten her business. I will wait a couple of days to see if she attempts to put the traps back up, if she does I will write a letter to the editor. I am scared to do much more with so little information and then be forced to deal with serious repercussions. I will keep my eyes peeled at the site to catch the nice couple and get more info.,, I guess that is all I can do. Thankyou all so much for being concerned. I pray that she doesnt put any more traps up and this tragic behavior stops. Thanks again,,,-stevie

Even if you don't know if she is an owner of a business in the strip, I am sure the people who rent from her would put some pressure on her to stop if the names of their businesses might get some bad publicity. Maybe you can work some pressure from them to her. Becky