Witnessed a horrible incident this weekend (long rant) :(

EDITED TO ADD:
Sorry, meant to post this in the Lounge! duh. Now, I can't find the delete key for some reason. Sorry. Mods, please move if you like...

It took me awhile to post this. But I am wracked with wonder and guilt...

I live in a considerably sketchy residential area, wrought with gangsters, substance abuse, and an unusual amount of interesting street life

There isn't much I haven't seen in the course of a day.

I do tend to love living in a highly urban centre and for the most part, have rarely been concerned for my safety, personal or otherwise.
Its a matter of experience and acclimatization really. In my 'hood', there is a certain code to live by and if you don't immerse yourself in any particularly dangerous subculture, you won't be bothered, unless its by the many people asking for change or cigarettes....

You generally get used to the sounds of the 'hood' quickly as well. I sleep like a baby through sirens of any kind, shouting outside my window, loud music...etc.

However, I couldn't seem to sleep late Saturday night and I could hear these two gang girl crackheads (I only know that one of them is affiliated with a gang as I have seen her around) outside talking. They weren't being particularly noisy or doing anything other than talking loudly that would cause me irritation....I live on the third floor. I could see they were seriously high.

In the next minute though, I became concerned as I heard one of them say..
"look, there's a cat...here kitty, here kitty"...I flew to the window and just observed for a minute. The two were standing by a car and one was peering down under the car. This one girl was urging the other girl to leave the cat and go..but the one wouldn't budge. The cat then proceeded to meow very loudly. This is why I suspected the cat couldn't have been feral as I don't think it would give away its hiding position so readily.

I couldn't think of what to do in this dilemma. One on hand, I didn't want this girl to get the cat out and try and take it with her. But I realized only the very stupid confront two high, toughass girls on their own in the dark with no one around....I thought for a minute and very meekly called down...
"oh, can you leave that cat alone?".."yeah, that cat is my cat"....I know I didn't sound sure of myself and it came out sounding kind of dumb I realize now...I just couldn't think of anything else at that minute.
They then started cackling like mad and yelling up to me to "f'off" and many other incoherent expletives...They then told me to come downstairs, expletive, expletive.

Umm. No. There is no way I am doing that.

I thought of calling the cops. I thought of saying there was fighting in my back lane instead of the fact that I was trying to arrest a cat from the clutches of two drug addicts. Now, the cops in my area don't come around in less than 5 hours for girls fighting (if at all), let alone for a "cat issue".

The girl eventually coaxed the cat out from under the car and picked it up very lovingly and walked away with it. The thing is, I can't stop thinking about this cat and hoping it just jumped away from her and ran off...
(I think this is likely)..

But I hate the not knowing. And I wish I could have done more.
I just had to get this off my chest. May sound silly to some, but I am wracked with guilt and wonder....

I am so glad I do not let my two out.
(they were sitting intently at the window with me staring down).

Oh gosh I hope that kitty is OK! I'm always so scared for cats who are tame who are allowed out, especially in not so good parts of town.

I'll move this to the Lounge.

hopefully the cat will be ok.sometimes nasty ppl are ok with animals. just keep your eyes open for it. when your out n about.

I'm so sorry. Just keep an eye out for it when your out. Hopefully you'll see it fat and happy in a window somewhere.
Don't feel quilty, unless you had a gun, there wasn't really anything more you could've done.

I would feel exactly the same in your position

If she was stroking the cat, maybe she didn't mean it any harm?? You'll never know for sure, so don't torture yourself with what-ifs

Maybe if you see them again, you could ask politely if they made it home ok with their kitty. When we lived in a simillar neighborhood, I developed a cordial relationship with a few people in the area and never had any trouble as long as we were there. They seemed to like the idea that someone would speak to them like they human beings. It was just a nod and hello, or a wave when I drove past, but they seemed to appreciate it.

Thanks guys..You made me feel a bit better..

Yeah, I do know many people in my area....even if its just a wave or a joke between
"neighbours", krazykat, so I agree.

And Purity, you are right. I felt better that they didn't seem to have ill intentions. And I do know that just because someone is disadvantaged or an addict doesn't mean they don't have the best intentions and aren't caring. Its just the judgement may be off.
I didn't want to think that they took this kitty home to a place that wasn't suitable or that they wouldn't be able to afford food etc.

I just hope that kitty used his street smarts and slunk back into the night

Lovey escaped a few weeks ago only to be found on my stairs several hours later.
I can't imagine how I would feel knowing that he was that cat

Originally Posted by Loveysmummy

Lovey escaped a few weeks ago only to be found on my stairs several hours later.
I can't imagine how I would feel knowing that he was that cat

Click to expand...

That's what I thought about. You told her it was your cat and she still took it, so if it HAD been your cat you'd have either had to go down there or let her take it.

I think she'll probably be okay with it since she seemed so gentle with it, but hopefully it got away. She might have just wanted to pet on it for a while too, and put it down later.

Either way, you did all that you could.

Hopefully the kitty was left unharmed.

I had something similar happen just a couple of months ago, minus a cat.

Two stupid drunken girls were yelling and laying out on my front lawn at 3am. I was trying to get some sleep, and I was not a happy camper having these chicks carrying on outside my window.

It may sound stupid to some, but I'm fairly street smart, so I went outside and confronted them. I told them to leave my property in a calm but firm tone, they started towards me, and I started dialing the phone (was seriously about to dial 911) very calmly. Needless to say they lost their nerve, one girl apologized, and I've never seen them again. It really irks me that nobody else in the apartment building even bothered to stop the noise.

Thank heavens no kitty was involved, or they would have had 33 years of pent up rage to deal with. Then I'd look like the idiot.

I know for a fact, if it was my cat, I would have been down there in a second to get it, not even thinking about my safety! Which is really stupid on my part! The other day when my little one ran out the door AGAIN, she ran right into the road and there was a car coming pretty fast. I ran out into the road to get her right in front of the car! Then she starts to play catch me and were both running in circles, while I've got my arms swinging to stop the car which screached to a stop! It was then that I thought about how stupid that was, and how close I just came to being road kill myself!

I agree. I really believe if it was one of mine, there would have been no question about me running down there...(that's on a different adrenalin rush to save your own kind of level)...

Not that I don't love all kitties and want to help them, there is a basic evaluation of risk that you take according to any given situation.

For instance, I know that if they were two "regular" drunk girls, I could have taken them on...Two high on coke - I have invincible super powers gang girls are another matter...

However, If the BF had been home, I actually wouldn't have hesitated. He tends to be formidable to deal with in that area of things. And I am no stranger to dealing with injustices around the neighbourhood on a regular basis. He has actually gotten me out of a few sketchy situations where I felt I had the need to speak up stupidly. (like the time I called out a methhead for picking on a cashier and was then subsequently followed out of the store by said methhead..)

We have such a bad gang problem in this city (yes, I live in the murder/gang and child poverty capital...not to mention the slurpee capital of Canada)...
The back alley that I was facing shares a street with the murder "street" here in this city...

Much of it is due to racial tension and I have been called skinny a** white girl more times than I care to count. Though I do understand the sentiment and social issues behind it. (And no, I don't have a skinny a** either..

I really have to move...

I know what you mean. I live in the 'Ghetto' part of town.. nasty little area.. someone was stabbed in my front yard a few months ago. A few days ago I was walking my dog and this group of teenagers were calling to this black stray cat that I have been calling, Shadow. He is very affectionate, but skinny.. so I know he has no home. I leave food out for him.. not wanting to bring him in incase he has Feline Leukeia or FIV or whatbot, as he does look a bit scraggly. Anyway, the teenagers were calling him to them.. then they would try to grab at him and he would take off.. then one of them would approach him trying to get him.. I yelled at them to leave him alone. If looks could kill.. They'd be dead =D They weren't dumb enough to come at me when I had control of a very large dog. But they wouldn't leave either. I I waited till one of my neighbors came out, and asked if she could take him inside for a bit. (they house most of the stray cats during the winter) then I left after she had gotten him inside.

I can't wait till I can get a job, then all those strays that are friendly enough will be altered and vaccinated and try to be rehomed. Then all the feral ones will be trapped, altered and probably released back.

Thank you Lovesmommy and Leto86 for reminding me just how fortunate I am to live were I live! I was whining to my husband because we live in a tiny town in Iowa, and there's "nothing to do" here. But, I forget I can walk the dog down to the park at 11pm and be completely safe. And we never have locked our house doors...we dont even have a key around. My car doors are never locked...and my keys are always in the ignition( or I probably couldnt find them either!) So, I will be happy that I can do these things and stop all my whining all the time