An Implanted Microchip Not Only Failed to Have Prevented Percy from Being Stolen but Its Database Operators Steadfastly Refused to Help Him Find His Way Home

Percy Was Already Nine Yeas Old When He Vanished in 2020

"Mum loved Percy. He was a lovely cat, quite cuddly. He had a comical meow and we all adored him."
-- Nicola Ibbotson

Some years ago, Silke Ibbotson of March, a small town of twenty-three-thousand residents in Cambridgeshire and located one-hundred-forty-six kilometers northeast of London, adopted a gray and white cat named Percy. He either had been previously microchipped or she later had that procedure performed herself.

The mere fact that she reportedly had confined him indoors in order to acquaint him with his new surroundings is a strong indication that this was not his first home and that he conceivably could have had one or more previous owners. Although it has not been publicly disclosed when she acquired him, it is known that he was born in 2011.

For whatever reason, Ibbotson's plan backfired on her and he got out and disappeared in 2020 when he already was nine years old. She reported his disappearance to Petlog, which is owned by the Kennel Club in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, and with more than thirteen million customers is the largest pet database in England, but she never heard anything from it in return.

Two years later in 2022, she departed this vale of tears without ever knowing what had become of Percy. She apparently had just assumed that he had been killed and that is never either an intelligent or a responsible assumption for anyone to make who truly cares about a cat. 

Oblivious to the comings and goings of both cats and humans, time kept right on moving and even Ibbotson's now twenty-eight-year-old daughter, Nicola, soon forgot all about Percy. Such is the way of the world nowadays in that the departed are seldom either mourned or even remembered for very long.

Then out of the blue in September of this year she received a notification from Petlog that an unidentified party had applied to update Percy's contact information in its database and that could only mean that her mother's long-lost cat was, miraculously, still alive. Her surprise and elation quickly gave way to consternation and anger when Petlog chose to hide behind the Data Protection Act of 1998 by steadfastly refusing to inform her as where he was now living and with whom.

Not about to accept that absurd cruelty and injustice, Nicola launched an online campaign on social media for answers. Through those efforts she learned from an unidentified woman in Plymouth, three-hundred-eleven kilometers southwest of London in Devon, that a member of her family had picked up Percy from the street in 2020. 

Her unidentified partner then took to the telephone in order to contact local veterinarians and through that effort that individual learned that Percy had undergone dental work in September but that the surgery that had treated him either had not scanned him for an implanted microchip or, if it did, it had chosen for whatever reason not to have contacted Ibbotson.

To make a long story short, Ibbotson eventually learned the name and address of Percy's new guardian and set up a meeting with that individual that was scheduled to have taken place sometime in November. It has not proven possible to learn what was decided at that meeting but Ibbotson initially had demonstrated little interest in being reunited with Percy.

Arguing that he is now fourteen years old, settled, and happy where he is, she apparently does not want any part of him. She quite obviously has moved on but it is difficult to understand how that she in good conscience could possibly turn her back on Percy, especially considering how much that he supposedly meant to her mother.

"Mum loved Percy. He was a lovely cat, quite cuddly," she recalled to BBC on October 28th. (See "Microchipped Cat Feared Dead Found after Five Years.") "He had a comical meow and we all adored him."

Nicola Ibboton Apparently Does Not Want Percy Back

Adoration would thus appear to be every bit as fleeting and fickle as love itself.

Whether it was intentional or not, both she and her mother failed Percy in 2020 by allowing him to have gotten away but now she has been presented with a golden opportunity in order to make amends for that mistake. When it comes to lost cats, not many owners receive second chances and such rare opportunities never should be squandered.

Secondly, caring for a cat is a lifetime moral commitment that should not be easily sloughed off, that is if one has a conscience.

For its part, Petlog has not had anything to say in defense of its disgraceful behavior that has been either intelligent or even remotely responsible. "If a pet is marked as missing on our database, there is always contact with the existing recorded keeper to ratify any changes to a pet's keepership or request for any amendments to the keepership record," a spokesperson for the company told the BBC.

Conspicuously missing from its nonsensical spiel is any acknowledgement of its duty to facilitate, not obstruct, the reunification of lost cats with their rightful owners. C'est-à-dire, Petlog took the elder Ibbotson's money under false pretenses by steadfastly refusing to lift so much as a lousy finger in order to assist her daughter in that regard. 

While it is true that the company's notification that someone was tampering with Percy's data did alert Nicola to the fact that Percy was still alive, she nevertheless was left to her own devices in order to not only have tracked down the individual who now has custody of him but to make her own arrangements with that individual if she wanted to reclaim him. Most importantly of all, if she had not been able to have located Percy's new guardian and to have come to some amicable agreement with that individual, she would have been forced to enter into a protracted and expensive legal tug-of-war.

This is by no means the first time that Petlog has been exposed as a sham operation. For example, in July of 2016 Karen Young of Drayton Bassett, eight kilometers south of Tamworth in Staffordshire, received a letter from it requesting a change of ownership for her then seven-year-old Bengal, Tigger.

The problem with that asinine request was that the cat that she had purchased in 2009 for £800 had disappeared in 2012. What really got her goat, however, was the arrogant and shabby way in which she was treated by the company which included it referring to her as a "third party."

"But when I got in touch with Petlog and told them I was the owner and I wanted to be reunited with my cat, they refused to tell me who had him, due to data protection rules and instead said they'd pass on my details," she revealed to The Telegraph of London on August 16, 2016. (See "Missing Cat Found after Four Years -- but Family Can't Be Told Who Has It Because of Data Protection Rules.") "They told me it was up to the people who had him to get in touch with me."

The company even had the bloody cheek to have concocted a distinction between ownership and keepership. "A microchip registration should not be treated as proof of ownership, but rather it is a record of keepership," a spokesperson for the company gassed to The Telegraph. "That is, where a pet normally resides and is intended to assist reunification if the pet goes missing."

Through the intervention of an unidentified member of the public, Young eventually learned that Tigger was residing in Sutton Coldfield, a suburb of Birmingham City, nine kilometers southwest of Drayton Bassett. Armed with that vital bit of information, her receipt for the purchase of Tigger, and his certificate of pedigree, she took her case to the Staffordshire Police.

"Via a third party, this individual or individuals, have been made aware that the cat in their possession has an owner and they should take appropriate steps to return the cat to its rightful owner," the police later informed The Telegraph. "We expect this to happen. Failure to do so could result in further action."

 Karen and Carmen Young Fought to Have Tigger Returned to Them

The intervention of the long arm of the law did the trick and the family holding Tigger returned him to Young during the second week of August of 2016. Although grateful for the return of her beloved Tigger, Young was left with nothing but contempt for both Petlog and microchips.

"Based upon my experience I think microchipping is a scam," she told The Telegraph. "I paid for a service I'm not receiving. It's a mockery and protects criminals." (See Cat Defender post of January 24, 2017 entitled "Tigger Is Finally Reunited with His Family Despite the Best Efforts of the Administrators of a Microchip Database to Keep Them Apart.")

The veterinarian who treated Percy also failed Nicola by not scanning him and contacting her. For whatever it is worth, and that is not much, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) recommends that its members scan all new patients for implanted microchips.

"This ensures that the animal is correctly identified when checked against the national databases and serves as a useful reminder to a new client to ensure that they keep their details up-to-date," the association declares in an undated policy statement entitled "Microchip Scanning (Dogs and Cats) and Microchip Databases" which accompanies the BBC article cited supra. "The microchip details should be recorded on the practice('s) database -- often lost pets are local to the practice and a check against the practice's own databases can provide a quick solution."

Yet, the organization's president, Rob Williams, blames the existence of more than twenty pet databases in England for the problem; by contrast, in the United States there are more than forty of them. "The number of separate national databases currently in existence is a hindrance to effectively reuniting lost or stray pets with owners," he groused to the BBC. "We are calling on government to streamline the system so that there is a central portal that vets, local authorities, and police can use to search microchip records rather than having to contact separate databases individually."

That is more self-serving baloney! If veterinarians, shelters, and others are either unwilling to scan cats for microchips or they are too incompetent to locate them, what possible use are they? (See WALA-TV of Mobile, May 14, 2008, "Cat's Microchip Didn't Save It from Being Euthanized" and WACU-TV of Philadelphia, December 15, 2017, "Animal Shelter Euthanizes Man's Cat after Failing to Find Microchip.")

In the United States, some shelters even have privately admitted that they never bother to scan cats that they suspect of being homeless. They simply whack them despite the fact that absolutely nobody can tell the difference between a homeless and a domiciled cat with any degree of accuracy. Much, much more importantly, being homeless should not be a capital offense for any cat.

Secondly, if database operators, such as Petlog, will not share the troves of data that they either collect or have access to with the owners of lost cats, both they and microchips are pretty much worthless. Thirdly, if the BVA will not penalize its members who fail to scan cats for chips it would perhaps be better off if it just kept with trap shut and continued to collect its cut of the action from this outrageous racket.

Although it should be obvious, it nevertheless bears repeating that microchips do not offer cats so much as an iota of protection against their myriad of enemies, such as thieves, Animal Control officers, cops, poisoners, dogs, wild animals, birds of prey, motorists, and such rabid ailurophobes as ornithologists and wildlife biologists. (See Cat Defender post of May 25, 2006 entitled "Plato's' Misadventures Expose the Pitfalls of RFID Technology as Applied to Cats.")

They also have been linked to cancer. (See Cat Defender posts of  September 21, 2007 and November 6, 2010 entitled, respectively, "The FDA Is Suppressing Research That Shows Implanted Microchips Cause Cancer in Mice, Rats, and Dogs" and "Bulkin Contracts Cancer from an Implanted Microchip and Now It Is time for Digital Angel® and Merck to Answer for Their Crimes in a Court of Law.")

Some veterinarians and shelters are so incompetent that they cannot even properly implant them. (See Cat Defender posts of  April 28, 2016 and June 23, 2016 entitled, respectively, "Sassie Is Left Paralyzed as the Result of Yet Still Another Botched Attempt to Implant a Thoroughly Worthless and Pernicious Microchip Between Her Shoulders" and "The State of North Carolina's Veterinary Division Is Covering Up a Savage Beating Dished Out to Cooper at the Rowan County Animal Shelter During the Course of a Microchipping Fiasco.")

If all of that were not enough in order to convince cat owners to swear off microchips, many of them who utilize chips do not even bother to keep their contact information up-to-data with companies such as Petlog. Like tracking collars, they also provide owners with a convenient excuse to take unreasonable chances with the lives of their cats.  (See Cat Defender post of November 15, 2023 entitled "Basil Is Abducted, Shot in the Head, and Her Body Dumped in a Creek and, Although a Neighbor Was Immediately Implicated in Her Death, Apparently No Arrest Has Been Made More Than Two Months Later.") 

Kitty Snows, a Working Cat, Was Stolen Off of I Street in Foggy Bottom  

Occasionally one of these fly-by-night database operators will abruptly take down its shingle and go out of business without warning. That is precisely what Save This Life of Austin, Texas, did in February of last year.

The Save This Life microchips already inside of cats can still be read by some scanners but it may no longer be possible to access their data in the National Microchip Registry in Canton, Ohio. (See the Humane Society of Tacoma and Pierce County in Washington State, press release of February 25, 2025 entitled "Pet Owners Advised to Check Microchip Registrations After 'Save This Life' Closure.")

Lastly, not all that many individuals care about their privacy and the outrageous encroachments being constantly made upon their personal freedoms by both governments and capitalists alike but microchips are manna from heaven for every fascist and totalitarian on the planet who wants to control both their lives and those of their cats. The only obvious beneficiaries of these odious devices are their manufacturers, database operators, veterinarians, and shelters who are making out like bandits.

Furthermore, the disaster that befell Percy is a textbook case of an all-too-familiar scenario that implanted microchips and databases cannot possibly even begin to remedy. In a nutshell, a cat either gets out on its own or its owner intentionally lets it out and soon thereafter it is stolen, most often by a neighbor.

The thief then confines it indoors and that prevents its rightful owner from locating it. Without probable cause in order to procure a search warrant from a magistrate, aggrieved owners cannot search their neighbors' houses and apartments for their stolen cats.

In addition to confining such cats indoors, the only other thing that thieves need to remember is to steer clear of all veterinarians who might be tempted to scan their new companions for implanted microchips. All things considered, stealing a cat is the perfect crime and a good way of acquiring one for nothing and without any irksome strings attached.

Quite often these opportunistic and spur-of-the-moment thieves will soon grow tired of their stolen cats and dump them back in the street and only then if someone assumes custody of them and takes them to either a shelter or a veterinarian and their microchips are located and correctly deciphered are their original owners contacted. In many cases, however, that does not occur until five, ten, or as many as fifteen years later down the road.

Even far worse outcomes sometimes do occur. For instance, some of these stolen cats that later are dumped in the street are intentionally killed by motorists. (See Cat Defender posts of November 16, 2007 and February 8, 2017 entitled, respectively, "Fletcher, One of the Cats Adducted from Bramley Crescent, Is Killed by a Motorist in Corhampton" and "The Long and Hopelessly Frustrating Search for the Kidnapped Mr. Cheeky Ends Tragically Underneath the Wheels of a Hit-and-Run Motorist.")

Cats also are stolen in order to be tortured and mutilated. (See Cat Defender posts of November 23, 2018 and November 7, 2022 entitled, respectively, "The Thurston County Cat Killer Is Allowed to Get Away with Stealing and Carving Up at Least Fourteen Cats Thanks to the Blasé Attitude and Ineptitude of the Law Enforcement Community" and "In a Sad and Violent Dénouement to a Long and Happy Life, Cleo Is Brutally Slain and Mutilated in a South London Park, Reigniting Fears That the Croydon Cat Killer May Have Struck Again.")

Cats additionally are stolen for their valuable pelts and to be experimented on by eggheads at the degree mills and other devils inside governmental laboratories. Some cretins even steal them in order to make meals out of them.

Because they already have been socialized, it is most often domesticated cats, such as Percy, that are stolen off the street. Due to their far more trusting nature, females are easier for thieves to snatch than are toms. It therefore is not a good idea to socialize a cat too much; an inherent fear of all strangers is beneficial for its continued survival.

Even so both working cats as well as those that belong to TNR colonies are quite often stolen. For example, in 2021 the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) placed a lovely black cat named Kitty Snows on I Street in the Foggy Bottom section of Washington and surrounded by the campus of George Washington University as part of its Blue Collar Cat Program.

A Thief in Ottawa Stole Slim and Refused to Return Him

She was provided with a shelter and food and left to hunt mice. All went reasonably well until she mysteriously disappeared in January of 2024. The HRA eventually learned that she had been stolen by Barbara Rohde, executive director and president of the Mileage-Based User Fee Alliance, who in turn took her home with her to her swanky digs at the nearby, albeit infamous, Watergate Complex.

Alleging that the HRA was not only starving Kitty Snows but ignoring an injury to her nose, she adamantly refused to return her. For its part, the HRA ludicrously claimed that she was not fit for either adoption or life indoors.

Nothing further has appeared online regarding Kitty Snows so it would appear that Rohde has gotten away scot-free with her crime. Since very few, if any, rescue groups have any interest whatsoever in investigation cruelty to cats, it is pretty much a foregone conclusion that none of them are about to wage a costly and protracted legal battle over the custody of a working cat. (See The Hatchet of George Washington University, February 25, 2024, "Cat-astprophe: Neighbors Quarrel after Resident Takes Beloved Alley Cat" and WTOP-TV of Washington, February 25, 2024, "This District of Columbia Neighborhood Had Feline Assistance for Their Rodent Problem. Now It's 'Working Cat' Has Been Taken.")  

Clearly, equipping cats with collars and identification tags is a far better method of safeguarding them than relying upon microchips. At least they immediately let individuals and groups that are contemplating either stealing or harming them know that they have owners who care about them.

There are still a few, but not all that many, individuals left in this wicked old world who not only care about cats but also have an abiding respect for private property. Collars and tags, however, are by no means foolproof.

For instance, in June of 2007 a handsome longhaired, seventeen-year-old tuxedo named Slim disappeared from the home that he had shared with Michel Giroux and Tanya Guay in Ottawa's New Edinburgh neighborhood ever since they had adopted him from a shelter when he was only three months old. On June 30th, the distraught couple received an anonymous, handwritten letter in the mail that bore the ominous salutation "About Your Cat."

Not about to waste any time mincing words, the author got right down to the nitty-gritty. "This is to inform you that I have your cat," the letter began. The writer then went on to tell the couple that Slim was now living in the country on a lake, eating all-natural cat food, had a new female companion, and that he was "incredibly happy and healthy." 

Then after accusing Giroux and Guay of starving him, allowing him to go unbathed and ungroomed, and neglecting to attend to sores on his body, she delivered her coup d'grâce. "Obviously, I have no intention of returning him to the city streets to be neglected again," she declared. "If you really do care about his well-being, you'll be happy that he now lives a safe, sweet, peaceful, happy life."

Needless to say, the epistle left Giroux apoplectic. "Who does this person think she is to decide this cat is neglected," he raged. "This person has taken it upon themselves (sic) to think that they (sic) have saved a cat when in point of fact, this cat is not neglected and he's loved and we just want him home."

From there he proceded to heap scorn and ridicule upon her conclusions. "This watching the sun set while eating organic cat food -- I don't really think this is his thing," he concluded by way or arguing that Slim was happiest roaming the streets of New Edinburgh.

He and Guay filed a complaint with the police, contacted the Ottawa Humane Society, and distributed three-hundred-fifty Lost Cat posters around their neighborhood but it is highly doubtful that they ever saw either hide or hair of him ever again. Although thanks to the collar and tag that they had outfitted him with, they did learn what had become of him and that petit fait did afford them some small measure of closure. (See Cat Defender post of July 9, 2007 entitled "A Hungry and Disheveled Cat Named Slim Is Picked Up Off the Streets of Ottawa by a Rescuer Who Refuses to Return Him to His Owners.")

In addition to the legalities involved, stealing a cat is a complicated moral conundrum. For instance, allowing it to remain homeless on the street is not the humane thing to do but neither is stealing someone's beloved companion. Moreover, since thieves cannot take their stolen cats to veterinarians out of a fear of being exposed, there is no way of telling how many of them are being killed each year by the microchipping racket.

Both Rachel Wells and Roger Colbourne Ran Out on Snitch

Although having Slim stolen from them in such a cruel and unjust fashion could not possibly have been anything other than heartbreaking for Giroux and Guay, it also surely was traumatic for Slim as well who not only lost his lifelong guardians but everything else that was familiar to him. An almost endless assortment of stories concerning aggrieved owners appear online every day of the week but few, if any, of them ever mention what losing everything does to a cat.

Even just changing houses with their owners is traumatic for them. Nobody has ever summed up the dilemma more insightfully and eloquently than Shirley Rousseau Murphy did in her 2001 novel, Cat Laughing Last, wherein she wrote the following:

"Moving was easier for a woman than for a cat.

When people changed to a new home, they took all their familiar possessions with them, all the things that gave their daily lives resonance. A cat couldn't take her treasures.

A cat's hoard was places, a nook in a garden wall, the shade beneath a favorite bush, a tree branch that suited her exactly, the best mouse runs. All these formed a cat's world, affording her security and comfort, giving her own life structure. A cat's treasures could not be carried with her.

That was why, when humans moved with their cats, the cat wanted to return. The humans took their belongings. The cat was forced to leave hers.

That was why, when sensible folk moved to a new home, they kept their cat inside for a month, gave her time to establish new indoor haunts, discover new pleasures, wrap that new world around herself. They didn't let the cat bolt out the door and head straight for the old homestead -- a matter of a mile away, or maybe hundreds of miles. Distance didn't matter to a cat, all she wanted was to be among her belongings."

With that being the case, imagine how much more stressful it surely must have been for cats such as Percy, Kitty Snows, and Slim who were cruelly deprived of not only of their homes and possessions but also their guardians as well. Perhaps cruelest of all, with their freedom having been taken away from them there was no longer any possibility that they ever would be able to get outside again and to make their way back home.

Thus having lost everything, they were forced to start all over again in life from scratch. In many respects doing that is far more difficult for grown cats than for helpless kittens who have just entered this world. At least under the latter scenario newborns have their mothers for milk and protection and their siblings for companionship.

Finally, anyone who ever has loved a long-lost cat never should allow it to remain with its new caretaker. First of all, all cat-lovers are by no means created equal. Secondly, it is all but impossible for an owner to truly know how that their cat is being treated by its new caretaker and, above all, how that individual will deal with health problems that invariably crop up sooner or later and, above all, end-of-life issues.

For example, in 2003 a one-year-old brown and white tom named Snitch disappeared from the home that he shared with then nineteen-year-old Rachel Wells somewhere in the West Midlands. Her life continued and she soon forgot all about him.

Fourteen years later in January of 2017, Snitch turned up at a surgery in the West Midlands, his implanted chip was found and read and Wells contacted. It soon was learned that he had been frequenting the Black Country Living Museum (BCLM) in Dudley, which is located less than five kilometers from Wells' old abode.

As it turned out, he occasionally had been fed over the years by seventy-three-year-old maintenance man Roger Colbourne. That minuscule level of care was sufficient, however, in order to provide Wells with a convenient excuse in order to run out on him for a second time.

Percy Faces a Very Uncertain Future

"It's a huge relief to know that he's safe, well, and is being so well looked after by Roger and the Black Country Living Museum," she rejoiced. "He gets fish and chips every day by the museum. He couldn't ask for better that that. Roger has had him a lot longer than I have and he is well-loved."

What an outrageous load of baloney that turned out to have been! First of all, Colbourne surely did not put in more than five days a week at the museum, so who fed Snitch on weekends, holidays, and when he was on vacation? Besides, a daily ration of fish and chips is hardly a suitable diet for any cat.

Secondly, since Snitch never lived with either him or at the BCLM, where did he hang his hat for all those long, lonely years? Thirdly, Colbourne surely never provided him with so much as a jot of security and protection under such circumstances. Fourthly, he is a dog-lover and absolutely nobody who ever loved a cat would fob off his care onto such a person. 

"I was astounded to learn about Tiger's (his name for Snitch) past," Colbourne said. "I have grown extremely close to him over the years and can't imagine life without his companionship."

Not only was that more outrageous rubbish but his lies sealed Snitch's fate. Most notably, after he had suffered a stroke in January of 2019 Colbourne wasted little time in running out on the cat that he could not "imagine life without" by handing off his care to an unidentified co-worker.

In April of 2019, Snitch suffered a second stroke and afterwards he either died on his own or, more likely, was killed off by the co-worker. By that time, neither Colbourne nor Wells were anywhere to be found.

"Tiger had a short, but peaceful, retirement from the museum before sadly succumbing to another stroke," is how that the BCLM chose to eulogize him in an e-mail letter dated October 1, 2020. "His passing was a great sadness to us all and he is fondly remembered by the team." (See Cat Defender post of September 22, 2020 entitled "Snitch Is Found Alive Fourteen Years after His Disappearance but His Old Owner Refuses to Take Him Back in Spite of the Shameful Neglect Shown Him by His New Caretaker.")

The disturbing truth of the matter is that all working cats, shop cats, mascots, teahouse cats, and the members of TNR colonies are treated like second-class citizens of the feline world by their caretakers. They additionally are invariably nakedly exploited for all sorts of reasons as well as hideously neglected.

To put the appalling situation succinctly, they are considered to be good enough to serve as mistresses but, with the notable exception of Kitty Snows, hardly ever worthy of becoming brides. Not surprisingly, their lives often end tragically. (See Cat Defender post of April 30, 2022 entitled "Relegated to the Dustbin of History and All but Forgotten by the Grossly Negligent Annapolis Maritime Museum, Miss Pearl's Beautiful Soul Continues to Cry Out from the Grave for Justice.")

Cats that are stolen often fall into that same category but as long as there is life there is a flicker of hope for them and, in Percy's case, it is still not too late for Ibbotson to have a change of heart. She could demand that he be returned to her and thereby honor the sacred trust that her mother agreed to fulfill when she first adopted him all those years ago.

Regrettably, none of that appears to be in the cards. Ibbotson apparently has washed her hands of him and, like Snitch before him, Percy is on his own.

The mere fact that so many owners behave like Ibbotson and Wells also raises the suspicion that some of them could be guilty of having intentionally abandoned their long-lost cats in the first place. In other words, they did not want them when they had custody of them and they most assuredly do not want them now and that is arguably the most damning reason that microchips are so utterly worthless.

Photos: Nicola Ibbotson (Percy), John Devine of the BBC (Ibbotson), the Daily Express of London (Tigger with Karen and Carmen Young), WTOP-TV (Kitty Snows), Tanya Guay (Slim), and Bruce Adams of the Daily Mail (Snitch with Wells and Colbourne).

    

Saved from an Almost Certain Death on Interstate 280 in Newark, Conan Has Been Abandoned to Languish in a Shelter Because No One Will Offer Him a New Home

 Conan Was in Dire Straits

 

"Hunkered down on the median of a busy highway in the sweltering heat, Conan's life hung in the balance."

-- Megan Brinster of the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge Incorporated

Congested Newark during the morning rush hour is hardly any place for a human, let alone a footloose cat. Yet, that is precisely where an approximately eighteen-month-old black male with a prominent white spot on his chest named Conan found himself at 9 a.m. on August 12th. 

Unlike his human counterparts who were safe and sound inside their lightning-fast old jalopies with their protective steel carapaces, he was all alone, just fur, organs, and bones, hunkered down on the median at milepost thirteen on Interstate 280. It additionally was humid with the thermometer nearing the one-hundred degree mark on the Fahrenheit scale and he was bereft of both air conditioning and so much as a drop of water.

Even more distressingly, with the traffic whizzing by in all directions at breakneck speed all avenues of escape had been closed off to him. How long that he had been stranded there is anybody's guess but most likely he had been tossed out of his previous owner's automobile under the cover of darkness.

It therefore is nothing short of amazing that he had not been killed instantaneously by either his impact with the pavement or crushed to death underneath the wheels of one or more oncoming motorists. It is even more miraculous that he had the presence of mind and strength of body in order to have made it to the safety of the median while he was still in one piece.

It is distressing to contemplate what must have gone through his mind as he waited for the end to come. For instance, did he think of his previous owner and wonder what had prompted that individual to have treated him so murderously?

Or, did he concentrate all of his remaining mental energy on staying alive? The only thing for certain is that he surely was frightened out of his mind by all the motorists and the noise and pollutants being emitted by their chariots.

Conan Has Spent Months in a Cage...

Given the hour of the day and the volume of traffic, it most likely would have been too perilous for any of the commuters to have stopped and attempted a rescue but a few of them did the next best thing and that was to have notified the New Jersey State Police. None of the details have been disclosed but somehow the officers not only were able to have gotten to Conan but to have safely corralled him as well. Perhaps he did not attempt to flee because there was not any place for him to have gone.

The officers in turn delivered him to Animal Control in Paterson, twenty-five kilometers north of Newark. Luckily for him, that agency almost immediately transferred him to the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge Incorporated (RBARI) in Oakland, another seventeen kilometers northwest of Paterson. 

"Hunkered down on the median of a busy highway in the sweltering heat, Conan's life hung in the balance," the charity's Megan Brinster wrote August 13th on Facebook. (See "Trapped on Highway 280 -- Stray (sic) Cat's Near-Death Rescue.") "Conan's story could have ended in tragedy but because someone cared enough to act, he has a second chance."

An examination by RBARI's veterinarian revealed that he had come though his horrible ordeal with only an ugly-looking and painful laceration above his left  eye. "Despite it all, Conan is gentle, shy, and so grateful for the kindness that saved him," Brinster summed up on Facebook.

That is the good news. The bad news is that three months later on Conan continues to languish in RBARI's shelter. Apparently nobody feels that he is worth adopting and that injustice is almost as cruel as what his previous owner had done to him.

"Conan is the sweetest and gentlest boy you could ask for!" RBARI exclaimed September 13th on Petfinder. "While still somewhat timid, he is opening up very quickly at the shelter and would be an amazing companion to a quieter home." 

... but Recently He Was Moved to a Room with Other Cats

It is difficult to speak definitively but he apparently was confined to a cage during his first month or two at the shelter but recently he was moved into a room with other cats and that seems to have made a big difference in his outlook and behavior. "Once timid and reserved, he has blossomed as the result of his new freedom and (the) companionship of his mates and staffers. He (has) made a complete one-eighty and is now a total attention hog!" RBARI wrote October 25th on Petfinder. "He loves attention and pets so much that he will even 'bite' out hands to tell us he wants us to follow him or pet him more. He absolutely adores it when our staff or volunteers go in to say hi."

He additionally enjoys the fellowship of other cats and is said to be "interested" in dogs and all of that should have enhanced his chances of landing in a new home but, for whatever reason, that has not proven to be the case.

Like all humans who wind up behind bars, cats that are imprisoned at shelters are, for good reason, frightened to death. It therefore is perfectly understandable that they are timid and standoffish.

Revoltingly, millions of them are arbitrarily slandered and libeled each year as being either wild, dangerous, or unsocialized and then almost immediately dispatched to the devil. Those individuals who work at shelters, for Animal Control, and in law enforcement could not possibly be that stupid but when it comes to cats the objective of the game always has been to eradicate them as opposed to saving their lives.

As for Conan, it is impossible to speculate as to what the future holds in store for him. Although RBARI claims to be a no-kill facility, such shelters nevertheless still exterminate cats in droves. (See Cat Defender posts of July 29, 2010 and October 23, 2012 entitled, respectively, "The Benicia Vallejo Humane Society Is Outsourcing the Mass Killing of Kittens and Cats All the While Masquerading as a No-Kill Shelter" and "A Supposedly No-Kill Operation in Marblehead Betrays Sally and Snuffs Out Her Life Instead of Providing Her with a Home and Veterinary Care.")

At the time of Conan's rescue, one of RBARI's donors pledged to match every dollar donated for his care up to US$5,000 but given the exorbitant cost of veterinary care the charity most assuredly exhausted that amount months ago. So, where does that leave Conan?

Conan Deserves a Home, Not a Cage at a Shelter

Even those individuals unable to offer him a home could perhaps prolong his life and thus enhance his chances of one day being adopted by sponsoring him financially. It is almost superfluous to point out but it would be a diabolical crime of epic proportions if RBARI were to turn around and kill him after all that he has endured and overcome during his young and turbulent life.

Nevertheless, time is fleeting. The cold and rain of autumn have supplanted the heat and sunny days of summer. The leaves are mostly brown and yellow and dead on the ground and more hell is destined to follow in the wake of their sad demise.

The capitalistic media and the general public have conveniently forgotten that he even exists. That dire assessment of Conan's situation possibly could be even true of RBARI. It certainly does not appear to be doing very much in order to place him in a new home.

So, the most troubling question of all remains unanswered. Namely, will the charity permit him to see the arrival of another sweltering summer or is the cold outside destined to be a harbinger of the imminent arrival of an even harsher and totally unforgiving cold in the form of the Grim Reaper and from which there will not be any miraculous eleventh-hour reprieve like the one that he was granted on August 12th.

 It is almost superfluous to add but no arrest has been made in this disturbing case and none is expected. The law enforcement community, shelters, and Animal Control do not even bother to so much as investigate cases of this sort.

Things have been that way forever and that is not about to change. (See Cat Defender post of September 6, 2025 entitled "Dumped on the Cajon Pass and Staring Imminent Death in the Face, Bugs Is Rescued at the Last Minute by a Compassionate and Utterly Fearless Hockey Mom.")

With that being the deplorable reality, the best that society can do is to treasure cats such as Conan who have somehow managed to survive such utterly despicable acts of cruelty. Regrettably, by allowing him to languish in a cage for months without a home RBARI can hardly be said to be fulfilling that mandate.

Photos: Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge Incorporated.

Dumped on the Cajon Pass and Staring Imminent Death in the Face, Bugs Is Rescued at the Last Minute by a Compassionate and Totally Fearless Hockey Mom

Ryann McCaffrey Attempts to Win Bugs' Trust with an Offer of Ham

"I saw a distressed kitten on the median and pulled over immediately without even thinking how dangerous the situation could be."

-- Ryann McCaffrey

It was all but over for little Bugs. As a newcomer to this old world and its wicked ways, he had been around for only about nine weeks and now he was going to die.

After having been cruelly dumped on the Cajon Pass of Interstate 15, one-hundred-two kilometers north of Los Angeles, he was stranded on the median in the hot, broiling sun with the temperature well above 100° Fahrenheit. He additionally was without food, water, and so much as a glimmer of hope. 

As bad as all of that was, he was still an extremely lucky kitten considering that the force of his impact with the roadway had not killed him. Of course, it is possible that he could have been let out of a stationary vehicle as opposed to having been violently tossed.

For example on June 4, 2016, a black eight-week-old kitten later dubbed Lieutenant Dan was thrown from a speeding car somewhere between Exits 8 and 9 on the New Haven-North Haven stretch of Interstate 91 in Connecticut. He was rescued by unidentified motorists who rushed him to the Central Hospital for Veterinary Medicine in North Haven where an examination revealed that he had sustained two broken legs, a torn bladder, internal bleeding, and an unspecified degree of paralysis.

Eileen Aiello and Jackie Nuzzo, who had obtained custody of him from one of his rescuers, wasted little time in acquiescing to the wishes of the veterinarians by having him promptly killed off. While it is debatable if he could have been saved, that which is not in doubt is that he deserved to have been given a chance to have lived.

Being far too incompetent and bone-lazy to even have tried, the attending veterinarians instead greedily gobbled up a lucrative killing fee. Aiello and Nuzzo were equally morally bankrupt for going along with the wishes of those despisers of all feline life.

Like just about all Americans, they relish talking big, strutting, and preening but if saving the life of a cat is  going to cost them so much as a red cent or a minute's worth of bother, they will choose jabs of sodium pentobarbital every time. (See the New Haven Register, June 6, 2016, "Kitten Thrown from Car on I-91 Dies; Motorists Seek Justice.")

The same doubly cruel and unjust fate befell a nameless five-week-old orange and white kitten on July 8, 2010 in Chattanooga. Hurled from a black, four-door vehicle at around noon on Interstate-24, the pretty female bounced off a retaining wall and received a glancing blow from another motorist before being rescued by David Livesay.

He then spent the next four hours attempting to convince at least two veterinarians to treat her. "It's a life! It's a life!" he pleaded in vain. "Anything alive is worth saving."

Nobody Believed That Lieutenant Dan's Life Was Worth Saving

He would not have had to convince Henry David Thoreau of that. "Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve life than destroy it," he once wrote.

Unfortunately for the kitten, Thoreau has been dead for centuries and she soon wound up at the McKamey Animal Care and Adoption Center which wasted little time in ending her life. (See Cat Defender post of July 16, 2010 entitled "Tossed Out the Window of a Car Like an Empty Beer Can, an Injured Chattanooga Kitten Is Left to Die after at Least Two Veterinarians Refused to Treat Her.")

Bugs' second stroke of luck came when he was able to have safely gotten out of traffic and to have made it to the top of the median. Otherwise, he surely would have been crushed to smithereens underneath the wheels of one or more morally bankrupt motorists who joyfully refuse to brake and steer around kittens and cats.

Other motorists stomp on the gas, turn the wheel over, and make beelines for all felines that they are able to get in their sights; for them, killing cats and kittens is a far too exquisite thrill to be passed up. (See Cat Defender post of August 14, 2019 entitled "No Respect for Life: Early Graves and Crippling Injuries Are All That Cats Who Dare to Set Foot in the Street Can Expect from the Bloodthirsty Motoring Public.")

In addition to the twin dilemmas of surviving the impact with the pavement and avoiding all the predatory motorists that are out on the roads today, there also was the possibility that the force of his ejection could have carried him over and beyond the median and to his death on top of the motorists below. Alone and stranded as he was, he made an appealing target for harassment by such common species of birds as crows and magpies and that could have caused him to have lost his footing on the median.

Predation at the hands of hawks, eagles, owls, and other avian species was an even bigger concern. (See Cat Defender posts of July 31, 2006, August 14, 2008, August 1, 2011, February 16, 2012, and February 5, 2024 entitled, respectively, "A Fifteen-Year-Old Cat Named Bamboo Miraculously Survives Being Abducted and Mauled by a Hoot Owl in British Columbia," "Birds Killing Cats: Blackie Is Abducted by a Sea Gull and Then Dropped but Her Fall Is Broken by a Barbed-Wire Fence," "Eddie Is Saved by an Outdoor Umbrella after He Is Abducted from the Balcony of His Manhattan Apartment and Then Dropped by a Redtailed Hawk," "Hawk Suffers Puncture Wounds to His Stomach and One Paw When He Is Abducted by a Raptor Hired to Patrol a City Dump on Vancouver Island," and "The Vicious and Unprovoked Attack Upon Pudding Once Again Demonstrates That Birds Kill Cats as Do Ornithologists and Wildlife Biologists.")

It is not known how long that Bugs had been stranded on the median but it could have been as short of a spell as hours or as long as days. He surely was frightened out of his wits and his energy level soon would have ebbed and that easily could have sent him tumbling into traffic.

It likewise is not known how many motorists not only passed him by without giving him so much as a second thought but who also never even dreamed of notifying the authorities of his perilous plight. Just because an individual might not be in a position to mount a rescue does not necessarily excuse him from not doing anything.

No Veterinarian Would Even Consider Saving the Chattanooga Kitten

Bugs surely must have been at about the end of his rope when from out of nowhere on July 28th a savior arrived on the scene in the form of a compassionate and fearless hockey mom. Ryann McCaffrey, her husband Matt, and their three children were motoring north on Interstate 15 from their home in Temecula, a city of one-hundred-thirteen-thousand occupants in Riverside County and located one-hundred-thirty-seven kilometers south of Los Angeles, when she spotted Bugs on the median.

"We were in the fast lane in the Cajon Pass and traffic was pretty slow," she later told the Victorville Daily Press on August 14th. (See " 'Hero' Mom Rescues Stranded Kitten on Busy Interstate 15 in Southern California's Cajon Pass.") "I saw a distressed kitten on the median and pulled over immediately without even thinking how dangerous the situation could be."

Her initial attempt at a rescue ended in failure as the frightened and panting kitten ran from her. Mercifully, he never abandoned the safety of the median.

Thinking fast, McCaffrey changed tactics. "I grabbed some of my kids' Lunchables ham and tried to show I wasn't a threat," she explained to the Victorville Daily Press.

When Consumer Reports tested Kraft Heinz's Lunchables it found unacceptable levels of sodium, lead, and cadmium in them and that resulted in the company being forced to remove the popular snack from the school lunch program. The small amount that Bugs ingested while stranded on the median should not harm him but it would not appear to be a good idea for McCaffrey to make a habit of feeding the treat to either him or her children.

In this particular instance, however, the Lunchables served their purpose by allowing McCaffrey to gain a measure of Bugs' trust. Her effort was additionally augmented by the timely arrival on the scene of a male motorist offering his assistance.

Specifically, his arrival momentarily distracted Bugs just long enough in order for McCaffrey to have gotten her hands on him. Once she had accomplished that herculean feat she was not about to let go of him no matter how many times that he scratched and bit her.

In between moaning and cursing a blue streak she wasted little time in getting him safely inside her old jalopy. She then slaked his parched palate with some much needed water. 

McCaffrey Took Advantage of the Arrival of a Stranger to Grab Bugs

Matt, who had filmed the dramatic rescue, then drove her and Bugs to the nearest pet store where she purchased food and other supplies for the new arrival before she and her family continued on their way to historic Bishop, a city of thirty-eight-hundred residents in Inyo County and located four-hundred-thirty-one kilometers north of Los Angeles. Upon arrival there, she took him to a veterinarian who sedated him and gave him a physical examination.

Press reports have not disclosed the results of that procedure but, apparently, he came away from his life and death ordeal with nothing more serious than some hijacking fleas and other parasites and that would tend to suggest that he was let out on the Cajon Pass as opposed to having been thrown from his previous owner's speeding vehicle. Otherwise he was indeed forcibly ejected but somehow was fortunate enough to have escaped injury.

As the gateway to the eastern Sierra Nevadas that also furnishes access to both Yosemite and Death Valley national parks, there is plenty to do in Bishop including hiking, fishing, climbing, hunting, and visiting with the local population of abandoned mules. Nevertheless, the McCaffreys elected to cut short their summer vacation in order to return home to Temecula with the newest member of their family. 

In spite of all that he had been put through, Bugs was said to be adjusting to the "family and becoming more comfortable every day" and that is a truly remarkable change in fortunes for a tiny kitten who came ever so close to dying a lonely and violent death in a forlorn mountain pass.

Although McCaffrey had initially christened him as Pharrell in honor of the rapper of the same name who had a monster hit record back in 2013 entitled "Happy," she later was prompted to change his name to Bugs. She did so not out of a fondness for the legendary carrot-chomping rabbit of the same name but rather for far more mundane reasons.

"I swear this little guy survived on bugs," she exclaimed to the Victorville Daily Press. "He is eating any bug he gets the chance to, even with his fancy kitty food and chicken."

That is perfectly understandable considering all that he has been through but he should outgrow that inclination as soon as he learns just how much more delicious, plentiful, and easily obtainable commercial cat food is as compared to having to catch insects for his daily sustenance. If against all odds that should prove not to be the case, McCaffrey can take comfort in knowing that she not only has added a wonderful cat to her household but also a pest exterminator who is willing to work for practically nothing.

She truly is a hero in every sense of that word. Bugs is alive today because she not only took the time in order to have cared about him but she also was willing to have risked her own life so that he could go on living and that is a pretty spectacular achievement any day of the week.

Bugs in His New Home...

If that were all that there is to this story that would be great but malheureusement that is hardly the case. Nothing good ever seems to last for very long in this world and from the file marked "No Good Deed Ever Goes Unpunished," an electrical fire broke out at 3:30 p.m. on August 20th in the house that the McCaffreys were renting in Temecula.

The inferno quickly engulfed and destroyed their dwelling and the family lost practically everything that it owned. Fortunately, Ryann and Matt got out unscathed as did their three children.

 

Eleven of their twelve pets, including Mr. Kitty, a pair of Alsatians, two guinea pigs, a tarantula, a leopard gecko, a bearded dragon, and a trio of parakeets, were pulled to safety by the family and other volunteers. Bugs, however, was left behind in the master bedroom upstairs where the conflagration had ignited.

Mercifully, the Temecula Fire Department arrived on the scene and one or more of its courageous members risked their lives by entering the burning and smoked-filled house in order to have carried out Bugs wrapped in a soot-covered pillowcase. Sadly, the smoke had taken its toll on him and he was largely unresponsive.

It did not look good for him at that juncture but the McCaffreys were not about to throw in the towel on him just yet. Instead, Ryann's father rushed him to Vail Ranch Vet where he was treated for pneumonia and placed in an oxygen tent for two days during which time he was administered intravenous fluids.

He is now back with the McCaffreys, who are staying with relatives, and is expected to live. What, if any, lasting lung damage that he may have sustained remains to be seen.

"He is warming up to the kids and my husband," McCaffrey related to KTLA-TV of Los Angeles on August 30th. (See "Kitten Saved from Cajon Pass Fighting Lung Disease after New Home Burns Down.") "I have taken the role of giving (him) the medicine which he does not like. He runs from me and has given me a couple of love bites."

It is difficult to imagine any kitten having been put through as much hell and anguish as Bugs has experienced during the first twelve weeks of his life. For whatever reason, the stars appear to be aligned against him.

...before It Burned Up and Nearly Killed Him in the Process

As for McCaffrey, losing her home and possessions has taken a huge emotional toll not only on her but also her family. "We're struggling to cope," she candidly admitted to KTLA-TV. "I'm overwhelmed with emotions -- numb, scared, hopeful, traumatized, thankful, and heartbroken all at once."

The one thing that she has not lost, however, is her perspective. "It has been devastating, but it could have been much worse," she told KTLA-TV. "Our kids could have been home alone, we could have been away from the house, or it could have happened in the night."

As terrible as the fire has proven itself to be, the response from her neighbors has been more than equal to the task at hand. For instance, by September 2nd a fundraiser on Go Fund Me had collected more than US$34,000. (See "Help the McCaffrey Family Rebuild After Fire.")

"This has been so traumatizing, but we are getting through it because of our amazing community," she summed up to KTLA-TV.

Starting over is not going to be easy, however. Rents are sky-high everywhere and replacing clothing, furniture, appliances, and other household essentials is not only expensive but a time-consuming affair as well.

Bugs' emergency and ongoing veterinary care is destined to set back the family thousands, if not indeed tens of thousands, of dollars. Most pressing of all, both Bugs and the family desperately need a break from all the rotten karma that has been dogging their every step of late.

As spectacular as was McCaffrey's rescue of Bugs on the Cajon Pass, stopping on any busy highway and venturing out into traffic is an extremely dangerous undertaking. For example, in late June of 2009 then twenty-eight-year-old Rachel Honeycutt was traveling on the East-West Connector in Cobb County, Georgia, when she witnessed two women throwing an unspecified number of kittens from their vehicle and out into the oncoming traffic.

Like McCaffrey, she did not hesitate to pull over and attempt to mount a rescue but just as she had bent down in order to pick up one of the kittens she was struck from behind by a speeding motorist. The force of the impact sent her flying seventy-five feet in the air and when she landed she was on the other side of the highway.

Although She Was Nearly Killed, Rachel Honeycutt Never Had Any Regrets

Bruised and battered from head to toe, she was rushed to an emergency room where she was diagnosed to suffered a broken pelvis as well as brain and other unspecified organ damage. She temporarily lost her memory, lapsed into a coma, and was placed on life-support for several weeks.

 

Thankfully, she eventually recovered but that was far from being the end of her travails. In particular, she was left with staggering medical bills and for a time she was even in danger of losing her house.

Adding insult to injury, the local authorities issued her a citation for being in the road. By contrast, neither the women who had dumped the kittens nor the motorist who had run her down were even so much as hunted down, let alone brought before the altar of justice. As for the kittens, no one seems to even have bothered to ascertain what became of them.

Honeycutt, however, never has had any regrets. "I can't believe I'm okay," she later said. "Everybody I've helped has helped me so much in a situation that brings it all around. Everything you give, you get it back."

Like McCaffrey, she is the genuine article in a world that is composed primarily of colossal phonies who think only of themselves. There are others who also have risked their lives in order to save cats and kittens but in most instances they have received only scorn, condemnation, and slaps from the heavy hand of the law in return for their valor. 

For instance, on September 4th of last year an unidentified couple in their twenties was driving east on the 91 Freeway in Riverside, eighty-nine kilometers west of Los Angeles, when they spotted a kitten stranded on the westbound side of the road. They immediately took the next exit and circled back.

When they came upon the kitten again the man jumped out of his vehicle, took off his shirt, and scooped it up in his hands. A trailing motorist failed to brake in time, swerved into the center divider, and came directly toward him.

The would-be rescuer attempted to jump over the median but in the process dropped the kitten. In attempting to avoid him, the trailing motorist not only collided with another motorist but also the driver of a tractor-trailer.
 

Zipper Survived Being Dumped on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge

One person was taken to the hospital with minor injuries but the Good Samaritan escaped without being injured. The kitten reportedly escaped with its life but it is not known what ultimately became of it.

True to form, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) promptly placed the couple under investigation for making what it has deemed to have been a "non-emergency stop" and for impending traffic. How that inquiry ended is not known.

"The great thing is that the cat made it, but these people caused a big mess," Javier Navarro of the CHP groused to the Los Angeles Times on September 6, 2024. (See "Driver Saves a Kitten on the 91 Freeway but Causes a Three-Car Crash.") "Who stops on a freeway like that?"

If Navarro and "his people" within the CHP had so much as an ounce of intelligence they would not have to ask such an asinine question. Instead, they would realize that it is compassionate and fearless individuals who care about cats and who are imbued with a strong sense of right and wrong.

Furthermore, if Navarro and the CHP would for once do their jobs by not only enforcing the rules of  the road in busy southern California but, especially, going after and arresting individuals who dump cats and kittens in traffic members of the public would not be forced into risking their lives in order to do their jobs for them. After all, they are the ones knocking down the big bucks and perks.

Instead of doing that, Navarro and the officers of the CHP are going to continue to sit on their fat, lazy, and rotten cracks excoriating and bringing charges against individuals who care about cats. It is a profitable racket to be sure but just about everything about the law enforcement community in the United States in general and California in particular always has been a grotesque sham. (See National Public Radio's "Throughline," May 8, 2025, "California's Bum Blockade" and John Steinbeck's 1939 novel, "The Grapes of Wrath.")

Earlier on September 26, 2023, a kindhearted motorist was crossing the 3.4-kilometer-long San Diego-Coronado Bridge, which spans San Diego Bay, when that unidentified individual just happened to spot an orange, ten-week-old male kitten subsequently named Zipper stranded about a quarter of the way up the Coronado side of the span. That individual attempted an unsuccessful rescue before his vehicle was hit from behind by two other motorists.

None of the drivers and occupants of the three vehicles were seriously injured and members of the Coronado Fire Department along with Corporal Andrew Hutchens of the Coronado Police Department soon thereafter found the kitten hiding in a movable Zipper® traffic lane divider. Taken to Paws of Coronado he was deemed to have sustained scrapes to his paws and rear but otherwise was in good shape. (See KNSD-TV of San Diego, September 27, 2023, "Kitten Rescue Causes Three-Car Crash on Coronado Bridge.")

Hoping Against Hope That Star-Crossed Bugs Is Able to Pull Through

He shortly thereafter was adopted and his new owner renamed him Rio in honor of longtime San Diego Chargers' quarterback Philip Rivers (Felipe Rios in Spanish). (See KNSD-TV on Instagram, October 7, 2023, "Kitten Whose Rescue Caused Three-Car Crash on Coronado Bridge Gets Adopted.")

The dumping of unwanted cats and kittens on busy thoroughfares is hardly novel. Rather, it is diabolical practice that has been going on for seemingly as long as there have been automobiles and roads.

Worst still, it is at epidemic proportions and does not show any signs of abating. (See Cat Defender posts of January 14, 2008, August 28, 2008, February 21, 2009, July 2, 2009, July 6, 2009, April 29, 2010, August 12, 2010, March 16, 2013, May 30, 2013, January 10, 2014, May 17, 2016, and July 10, 2022 entitled, respectively, "Freeway Miraculously Survives Being Tossed Out the Window of a Truck on Busy Interstate 95 in South Florida,"  "In Memoriam: Trooper Survives Being Thrown from a Speeding Automobile Only to Later Die on the Operating Table," "A Daring Rescue in the Sky Spares the Life of a Cat That Was Dumped on an Overpass in Houston," "Three-Week-Old Lucky Is Rescued by a Staten Island Judge after She Was Tossed Out the Window of a Pickup Truck on Hyland Boulevard," "Miracle Survives a Drowning Attempt on the McClugage Bridge and Later Hitchhikes a Ride to Safety Underneath the Car of a Compassionate Motorist," "Long Suffering River Finally Finds a Home after Having Been Run Over by a Motorist and Nearly Drowned," "Gia and Mr. T. Survive Separate Attempts Made on Their Lives after They Are Abandoned on Busy Bridges During Inclement Weather," "Mausi Is Saved from a Potentially Violent Death on the Fast and Furious Autobahn Thanks to the Dramatic Intervention of a Münchner Couple," "Stone-Broke, Homeless, and All Alone at the Crossroads of the World, Disaster Is Snatched from Harm's Way by a Representative of the Walking Dead," "A Texas Judge Idiotically Allows Pastor Rick Bartlett to Get Away with Stealing and Killing Moody but a Civil Court May Yet Hold Him Accountable," "The Corpses of Eleven Cats Are Found Locked Inside Pet Carriers That Were Dumped Along North Carolina Roads but the Authorities Are Unwilling to Go after Their Killer," " and "Unspeakably Mutilated and Then Dumped to Die All Alone with His Horrific Pain in the Bitter Cold, Highway Amazingly Defies the Odds and Now Has a New Guardian, a Home, and a Second Chance at Life.")

The most thought-provoking question of all is what are individuals who hate cats so much that they are condemning them to be crushed to death underneath the wheels of speeding motorists doing with them in the first place? One possible explanation is that these devils only acquire them in order to abuse and kill them. That is how that they get their perverted kicks.

 

A second possibility is the abysmal lack of affordable sterilization and the blame for that rests squarely upon the shoulders of scum-of-the-earth, predatory veterinarians. They could easily solve the problem of the overpopulation of unwanted cats if they so desired but the only thing that interests them is making as much money as is possible in the shortest amount of time and with the least expenditure of effort. In other words, they are not only greedy and uncaring but lazy assholes to boot.

With such a mindset, it is not surprising that they are not the least bit particular about how that they get their blood money. (See Cat Defender post of March 19, 2014 entitled "The Cheap and Greedy Moral Degenerates at PennVet Extend Their Warmest Christmas Greetings to an Impecunious, but Preeminently Treatable, Cat Via a Jab of Sodium Pentobarbital.")

Thirdly, shelters, breeders, and others who traffic in the species need to be far more selective about the types of individuals that they allow to adopt and purchase their cats. Fourthly, it would be a positive step in the right direction if the law enforcement community would for once start tracking down and arresting individuals who commit these utterly despicable crimes. 

Deplorably, the odds of any of those recommendations being even so much as entertained, let alone implemented, are considerably slimmer than those that Bugs had of ever getting out of the Cajon Pass alive.

Photos: Ryann McCaffrey (Bugs), the New Haven Register (Lieutenant Dan), WTVC-TV (the Chattanooga kitten), Go Fund Me (the McCaffreys' burned-out house), WXIA-TV of Atlanta (Rachel Honeycutt), and the Coronado Police Department (Zipper).

After Gouging the Public for Months in Order to Keep Coal Alive, His Perfidious Owner Betrays Him to the Knackers at a Slaughterhouse Posing as a Veterinary Clinic Who Killed Him Off Without a Moment's Hesitation

Coal with His Executioner, Danny Taurozzi

 

 "I just hope to meet him in heaven one day."

- - Danny Taurozzi

It was all a big, fat lie! After proclaiming to the world for months that he, like Lord Byron's Julia, would "ne'er consent," Danny Taurozzi of the Gloucester section of east Ottawa "consented" on July 8th and had his supposedly beloved seventeen-year-old cat Coal killed off.

That dastardly betrayal and totally unforgivable foul deed perpetrated against the last surviving member of the now defunct world famous Parliament Hill Cat Sanctuary took place at Capital City Specialty and Emergency Animal Hospital in Kanata, twenty-two kilometers west of Ottawa, with oncologist Krista Gower most likely wielding a deadly syringe filled with poison. What did she care?

Killing off a cat is simple, fast, and easy money for all veterinarians. No morals, conscience, compassion, or respect for the sanctity of feline life are required.

By contrast, making a sick cat well again and pumping new life back into one that is dying requires morals, brains, hard work, liberality, and an ingrained prejudice in favor of life over death. (See Cat Defender posts of November 17, 2010 and August 14, 2021 entitled, respectively, "Penniless and Suffering from Two Broken Legs, It Looked Like It Was Curtains for Trace Until Geoffrey Weech Rode to Her Rescue on His White Horse" and "Amazing Little Juicebox Overcomes Not Only a Near Fatal Mauling at the Hands of His Owners' Dog but also Being Cruelly Abandoned to Shift for Himself Inside the Snake Pit World of Veterinary Medicine.")

As it is always the case with these totally uncalled for executions, Taurozzi went to great lengths in a clumsy effort in order to put a smiley face on his perfidy. "Surrounded by his devoted human dad, Danny Taurozzi, and his younger adopted feline brother, Winston, Coal passed peacefully...with veterinary assistance in dying (VAiD), a final act of mercy and dignity for a life so deeply cherished," he wrote July 9th in update number twenty-five to "Saving Little Coal" on Go Fund Me.

Unabashed balderdash such as  that cannot be allowed to go unchallenged. First of all, since Coal's condition at that precise moment in time has not been spelled out and given that there were not any unbiased outside observers present at his killing, it is impossible to know if he went to the gallows willingly, peacefully, and without pain and trauma. (See Cat Defender post of April 8, 2018 entitled "A Rare Behind the Scenes Glimpse at the Ruthless Murders of Two Cats by an Indiana Veterinarian Exposes All Those Who Claim That Lethal Injections Are Humane to Be Barefaced Liars.")

For his part, Taurozzi has tap-danced all around that issue without saying much of anything that was either remotely germane or substantive. "After a compassionate and thorough evaluation, it became heartbreakingly clear: Coal's condition had become grievous and irremediable, beyond what love, medicine, or therapies could ease," he continued on Go Fund Me. "It was time to let him go."

Secondly, it is totally ludicrous for him to claim that he cherished the life of the very same cat that he had just finished liquidating. Likewise, his palaver about mercy and dignity can only be characterized as the self-serving rantings of a delusional cat-killer.

Thirdly, it is difficult to fathom his motive in dragging along young Winston in order to witness Coal's execution unless he is conditioning him to accept a similar fate later on in his life. The entire business is not only sickening but smacks of the macabre. After all, there is a world of difference between treating a cat to a birthday party and forcing him to witness the murder of his one and only feline friend in this world.

Fourthly, since when does this overbearingly mendacious and deceitful old world need another verbal léger de main, such as veterinary assistance in dying, in order to magically sanitize the cold-blooded murders of totally innocent cats into trifling acts that are not only acceptable but, in some warped gourds, even noble? Nevertheless, when it comes to those diabolical monsters who strut around on two legs the corruption of language goes hand-in-hand with the wholesale killing of the animals and the destruction of mother earth.

Taurozzi's killing off of Coal stands in stark juxtaposition to not only what he had been preaching for months but also gouging the public in order to prevent since at least 2021. "Only if a grievous and irremediable medical condition substantially diminishes Coal's quality of life beyond the point that management therapies can help will veterinary assistance in dying become an option," he declared to the Ottawa Citizen on January 5th. (See "Coal the Parliament Hill Cat Has Cancer. His Human Is Fighting for the Legend's Life.") "We're very far from there."

He even went so far on that occasion as to speculate that Coal was going to be around for quite a while. "If things go well and the cancer is slowed down, he could have a couple of years," Taurozzi added to the Citizen.

His repeated reliance upon "grievous and irremediable" tends to suggest, however, that he already had decided to kill off Coal long ago. That in turn leads to intriguing question of why did he extend so much wind power gassing about keeping him alive? (See Cat Defender post of June 28, 2025 entitled "Coal, the Sole Surviving Member of the Fabled Parliament Hill Cat Sanctuary, Is Deathly Ill but His Devoted Owner Is Not Leaving Any Stone Unturned in a Last-Ditch Effort to Save His Life.")

Coal Walking in the Snow Outside the Centre Block of Parliament

Diagnosed with a salivary gland cystadenocarcinoma that had spread to his lungs, a tumor was successfully removed from behind his left ear in June of 2024. Sadly, the cancer returned in February of this year.

Placed on chemotherapy in the form on Palladia tablets, Coal's health began to stabilize. "So far treatments have been remarkably effective in slowing the progression of Coal's salivary gland cystadenocarcinoma, which has shown slight pulmonary metastasis," Taurozzi disclosed February 17th in update number twenty-two to "Saving Little Coal" on Go Fund Me. "Despite his diagnosis Coal continues to defy the odds -- remaining playful, eating and drinking well, using his litter box without issue, and showering his dad with affection."  

Nothing good ever lasts for very long in this miserable old world and on June 3rd he suddenly stopped eating and that necessitated in him having to be rushed to VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital in Ottawa where he was given intravenous fluids. Although that was a worrisome turn of events, Coal soon bounced back without any apparent lasting damage.

"Within half an hour, he began to feel better and was able to eat again gradually," Taurozzi disclosed June 5th in update number twenty-four to "Saving Little Coal" on Go Fund Me. "By the next morning, his energy had returned, and his appetite was back to normal."

What happened between June 5th and July 8th is not known and it is a sure bet that Taurozzi never will come clean on that matter. There cannot be any disputing, however, that cancer is a killer and that is especially the case given the dishonest, uncaring, and totally incompetent nature of feline veterinary care. (See The New York Times, March 11, 2025, "Why Are Cats Such a Medical Black Box?")

Making matters worse, Coal also had been suffering from kidney disease and arthritis from as far back as at least 2021. (See the CBC, July 9, 2025, "The End of an Era: Last Feline from Parliament Hill Cat Colony Dies.")

From a December 19, 2021 posting entitled "Helping Little Coal" on Go Fund Me, it has been belatedly learned that he also had allergies and dental problems. Specifically, he had had at least three teeth extracted plus undergone other "unspecified surgeries."

Whereas allergies, arthritis, and dental woes are preeminently treatable conditions, kidney disease is  much more difficult to manage. Kidney transplants are available for cats but they are difficult to come by, prohibitively expensive, and of dubious viability. (See Cat Defender post of October 11, 2013 entitled "Heroic Hermione Is Holding Her Own Despite Tragically Losing a Kidney to a Botched Sterilization Two Years Ago" plus the Guilford-Jamestown Veterinary Hospital in Greensboro, no date, "What Are the Symptoms of End Stage Kidney Failure in Cats?" and Washington State University in Pullman, press release of July 31, 2025, "Genetic Test  Detects Early Signs of Kidney Disease in Cats.")

Yet, veterinarian Patty Khuly of the Sunset Animal Clinic in Miami is of the opinion that the lives of cats suffering from kidney disease can be extended with daily injections of intravenous fluids. "I've seen even very sick cats, cats who needed hospitalization in the beginning, do really well on home care with an owner who was willing to give it a try," she told the San Francisco Chronicle on August 18, 2009. (See "Caring for a Cat Whose Kidneys Have Failed.") "What makes the difference in how well a cat with kidney failure does is not how sick they are, or how bad their kidney values are on a blood test. It's the attitude of the owner."

Equally importantly, she is not merely talking about a temporary, short-term fix. "Many of these cats who were on the brink of death can be brought back with supportive care at home," she continued to the Chronicle. "Not only brought back for days or weeks or months, but years."

Other treatments include diuresis, dialysis, continuous renal replacement therapy, stem cells, special diets rich in omega three fatty acids, and chemotherapy, which Coal already was receiving for cancer. Since Taurozzi has not publicly stated what prompted him to have had Coal killed off, it is mere speculation but it just as easily could have been kidney failure as opposed to cancer.

It also is entirely conceivable that money could have been the primary reason that Taurozzi had him killed. For instance, in "Saving Little Coal" he admits to having received C$15,161 from three-hundred-seven donors.

Earlier on December 19, 2021 in "Helping Little Coal" on Go Fund Me he claims to have raised C$4,400 from one-hundred-two donors. Whether that amount is included in what was raised on "Saving Little Coal" or is in addition to it is not known.

Coal Is Gone Forever and Taurozzi Will Not Be Meeting Him in Heaven

For whatever it is worth, the CBC claims in the article cited supra that Taurozzi spent in excess of C$30,000 keeping Coal alive. It has not offered any accounting as to how much of that grand total came from online donations, pet insurance, and out of Taurozzi's pocket.

With veterinary costs being as insanely high as they are, C$30,000 would not have gone very far in treating even one deadly disease, let alone two. Unless small animal practitioners drastically reduce the exorbitant fees that they charge they are destined to go the way of the dinosaurs.

Large animal practitioners do not have anything to worry about, however. The meat producers, livestock owners, vivisectors, the thoroughbred horse racing industry, zoos, circuses, and other cutthroat businesses that utilize their services have money to burn and therefore can pay whatever they demand.

It additionally would not be surprising if Taurozzi had Coal whacked simply because he grew tired of medicating and taking care of him. For instance, some owners have publicly admitted to having their ailing cats killed off simply because they had became incontinent.

Cleaning up a little errant piss and shit ever once in a while is not any big deal for anyone who truly loves a cat. Looking ahead, once Taurozzi grows old and his excretory systems starts to fail him somebody surely will have to clean up after him.

There does not seem to be any denying that Coal was suffering from wholesale health issues and that his time upon this earth was rapidly drawing to a close but Taurozzi has not made the case that he had to die on July 8th and, above all, that he had to be executed by a morally retarded sawbones.

Like all cat-killers, he is plainly guilty of obfuscating the truth if not outright lying altogether and that is one reason that the killing of cats under all circumstances needs to be outlawed. Secondly, killing a cat is murder and changing the nomenclature to euthanasia, VAiD, a mercy killing, and all other tricks of language is not going to alter that reality.

Thirdly, Taurozzi's killing of Coal was an unforgivable betrayal. How that he, or anyone else for that matter, could so cold-bloodedly and calculatingly sell a supposedly beloved cat down the river to the knackers at a moneygrubbing surgery is too gruesome to even contemplate. 

Fourthly, to betray a cat to the hangman is the very epitome of ingratitude. Fifthly, killing off a cat demonstrates an appalling lack of reciprocity on the part of its owner; cats do not engage such perfidy. For example, after his owner's sudden death in 2013, a ten-year-old tuxedo named Ian from the Kingstanding section of north Birmingham remained loyally by her side. (See Cat Defender post of July 27, 2013 entitled "Instead of Killing Her Off with a Jab of Sodium Pentobarbital and Then Burning Her Corpse, Ian Remains Steadfast at His Guardian's Side Long after Her Death.")

In May of this year, a tiny, extremely underweight, and sickly kitten named Tinkerbelle arrived at The Balam Foundation in Laredo and soon thereafter began administering hospice care to eighty-seven-year-old Isabelle Barratt who later died on July 14th. Having nearly succumbed to the inevitable many times herself during her rough introduction to this world, Tinkerbelle appears to have been fully cognizant of Barratt's impending demise.

"When I put her with my mother, it was just so sweet. I think she understood what state she was in," Phaedra Barratt recalled to Newsweek on July 28th. (See "Tears as Tiny Kitten Stays by Woman's Side During Her Last Few Moments.") "I think cats have a deep awareness and sensitivity toward people and death in particular."

Despite all that Tinkerbelle has done for her and her mother, Old Barratt Bird has not yet decided if she is going to give her a home or to cast her out. As it always turns out to be the case, cats freely give so much but seldom receive anything in return other than naked exploitation, abuse, abandonment and, finally, to be robbed of their precious lives. Man is the ungrateful animal who never has learned to give; he only takes.

Last but certainly not least, how could any supposed lover of cats ever forget a lovely gray and white tom named Oscar who for nearly two decades cared for the sickly and dying at Steere House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Providence. Deplorably, his only reward for his many years of faithful and compassionate service was a dose of what Taurozzi gave Coal. (See Cat Defender posts of July 30, 2007, May 27, 2010, and June 24, 2022 entitled, respectively, "A Visit from Oscar Means That the Grim Reaper Cannot Be Far Behind for the Terminally Ill at a Rhode Island Nursing Home," "When Lovers, Friends, Health, and All Hope Have Vanished, Oscar Is There for Those Who Have No One and Nothing Left," and "Oscar, Who Was Intimately Acquainted with the Grim Reaper, Is Himself Betrayed and Killed Off by the Same Loathsome Ingrates That He Faithfully Served, Comforted, and Made Fabulously Rich and Famous for So Many Years.")

Phaedra Barratt Is Considering Running Out on Tinkerbelle

Seventhly, none of the countless cats that are killed off each year by their owners ever receive so much as a jot of due process of law or any say whatsoever in the matter and that is undeniably outrageously unjust. Furthermore, it seems highly unlikely that any cat would ever willingly consent to surrender his life.

"Knowing only their lives as they live them, cats are mortal immortals that think of death only when it is nearly upon them," John Gray theorized in his 2020 book, Feline Philosophy. Cats and the Meaning of Life. "When cats want to die it is because they no longer want to live."

Eighthly, retaining an unscrupulous sawbones in order to murder a cat is totally unnecessary given that palliative and hospice care are readily available for those that are either terminally ill or rather old. Choosing either of these options also has the advantage of allowing a cat to die at home in a stress-free environment as opposed to being killed off by a shekel-chasing veterinarian in a dressed-up slaughterhouse that is posing as a surgery.

Most troubling of all, veterinarians quite often are terribly premature in their doomsday prognoses and many cats that they have wanted to kill actually have gone on to live for many years. If the ugly truth dare be told, very few of them give so much as a tinker's damn about feline lives: the only thing that they care about is a fast and easy buck.

Ninthly, given that cats live such terribly brief existences it is a crime of epic proportions to shorten their lives by so much as one second. Tenthly, the entire business of killing off cats is not only too pervasive but rife with mischief to be allowed to continue.

Even after he had perpetrated his foul and irreversible deed Taurozzi was anything but contrite. "It was a very tough day, and I am a bit broken," he wrote July 9th on "Saving Little Coal." "Saying goodbye to Coal was heartwrenching, but it was  the humane thing to do."

He quite obviously did not care but it was an even tougher day for Coal. After all, he was the one who was being betrayed and robbed of his life. It would have been refreshing if Taurozzi had been capable of considering his feelings but such altruism is totally beyond the keen of all but a few humans. 

"The tears will flow, and the sadness will linger for some time," the self-absorbed Taurozzi continued. "I will miss you, little buddy."

That is highly unlikely. The only thing for certain is that Coal is no longer around to either cry or to laugh.

"Coal was a sentient feline family member. He was Canada's last surviving Parliament Hill cat, a living thread to a cherished chapter in our country's history," is how that he chose to eulogize him on "Saving Little Coal." "For those who knew him, followed him, and loved him from near and far, Coal was a national symbol of compassion, resilience, grace, and quiet strength. He was a feline gentleman with a heart of gold. He will be deeply missed, but never forgotten." 

Make no mistake about it, nobody will ever say anything of the kind about his executioner and just to make that point crystal clear Taurozzi ran and hid behind his religion, "I hope to meet him in heaven one day," he stated July 11th in a YouTube video. (See "Remembering Little Coal, the Last Cat Who Lived at the Parliament Hill Sanctuary.")

More often than not, anytime that religion is invoked it is done so by phony-baloney salvation hustlers, beggars, convicted criminals on their way to the jug, and individuals such as Taurozzi who have committed some dastardly deed but gotten away with doing so scot-free.

Hercules Was Killed Off by Taurozzi in November of 2016

On a more practical note, what on earth could Taurozzi possibly ever say to Coal if he were indeed to meet him in heaven? Perhaps, "Sorry, old man, about murdering you but you know how it is."

Every bit as predictable as death and taxes, he wasted little time in having Coal's remains burned. He does, however, plan on retaining what the flames left behind, at least for a while.

"...I'm keeping Coal's ashes," he vowed to The New York Times on July 10th. (See "Coal, the Lone Survivor of Canada's Parliamentary Cat Colony, Dies.") "Most of his life (he) was an inside cat, so it's fitting that he stays with me."

That is rather odd in that he sprinkled Spot's ashes at the Parliament Hill Cat Sanctuary after he had died of congestive heart failure in March of 2020. That was in spite of the fact that both he and Coal had been adopted at the same time in late 2012 and the two of them spent the remainder of their lives indoors with Taurozzi. 

The pious Taurozzi thus deprived him of a memorial service, a coffin, a proper burial, and a tombstone. That certainly made closing the book on him considerably easier and cheaper and ashes are considerably more easily forgotten and disposed of than a grave and a marker.

Whereas what Taurozzi did to Coal is every bit as wrong as it is infuriating, there is a good deal more to this story than meets the eye. By searching for his name on Go Fund Me, as opposed to specific cats, it belatedly was learned that he has been playing the old reliever game for quite a while.

For example, from an article dated October 7, 2016 and entitled "Help Pay Hercules' Medical Bills" on Go Fund Me it was learned that he had collected at least C$2,740 from fifty-nine donors in order to supposedly pay the veterinary bills of a brown and white tom named Hercules who was suffering from anorexia, weight loss, and an unspecified form of cancer. Treated at VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital, in died in November of 2016.

As was the case with Coal, Taurozzi most assuredly had him killed off. His corpse also was burned and Taurozzi later pledged to bring home his ashes "soon."

It is by no means even certain that Hercules belonged to him. All that the posting on Go Fund Me states is that he was a rescue cat from Montreal, one-hundred-ninety-nine kilometers east of Ottawa, who was residing in Cornwall, Ontario, one-hundred-three kilometers southeast of Ottawa.

As it turns out, Hercules had a sister named Valérie, a tuxedo also from Montreal. According to "Saving Little Valérie on Go Fund Me, Taurozzi raked in at least C$2,535 from fifty donors in order to care for her.   

Not feeling well and losing weight, she was diagnosed with bladder cancer and, like her brother, she was treated at VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital. The posting is not dated but the last donations received were from about three years ago.

It has not proven possible to ascertain what became of her but more than likely she met with the same fate as did Coal and Hercules. C'est- á-dire, Taurozzi had her killed off and her corpse burned.

 Taurozzi Likely also Killed Off Valérie

The only other mention of her to be found online is an oblique one contained in the August 5, 2020 edition of the Ottawa Citizen. (See "Then There Was One: The Last Parliament Hill Cat Survives Medical Scare.")

Before his death in March of 2020, Taurozzi also was hitting up the public to pay for Spot's coronary difficulties. Although it is not known how much that he raked in from that effort, a November 5, 2019 posting on "Saving Little Spot" on Go Fund Me states that he was suffering from weight loss, Hyperthyroidism, a heart murmur, tooth decay, and gum disease.

According to that posting, he not only was being treated at VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital but also at Hôpital Vétérinaire Sainte Rose in Laval, two-hundred-two kilometers east of Ottawa in Quebec Province. Quite obviously, Taurozzi was receiving considerable funding in order to have paid for all of that veterinary care and transporting around of Spot.  

It is far from clear as to what should be made of Taurozzi's incessant cyberbegging and trafficking in terminally ill felines. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he conceivably could be a compassionate cat rescuer who is more than willing to go to extraordinary lengths in order to extend their lives and especially Coal's.

"Despite this (cancer), he was able to enjoy nearly a year of good quality of life, thanks to the extraordinary care he received and unwavering love," he proudly patted himself on the back July 9th on "Saving Little Coal."

Even in saying that much he possibly could be dramatically understating his own case in that Coal had been experiencing serious medical problems since at least 2022. Furthermore, the same thing could be said for his efforts on behalf of Spot, Hercules, and Valérie as well.

Even if that ultimately should prove to have been the case, his behavior still does not look good and, above all, it does not excuse him for perennially imposing upon the beneficence of the public. After all, it is primarily the responsibility of rescuers to foot the bills for the care of the cats that they adopt.

Most damning of all, he certainly does not appear to belong to the class of the impecunious. On the contrary, he works as a national representative for the Canada Employment Immigration Union which has thirty-thousand members. He therefore most assuredly is bringing home substantial coin along with tons of fringe benefits.  

Deplorably, cyberbegging has become a huge racket with many well-to-do individuals preying upon the heartstrings of a gullible public. This fairly recent development is easily verified by the types of jobs that they hold and by the affluent neighborhoods in which they reside.

Gone are the days when individuals prided themselves on earning and spending their own money. In those days of yore, having money equated with freedom from want and the harsher realities of existence.

An individual with money could afford to live in a decent house that was warm in the wintertime and located in a crime-free neighborhood and he also could afford to wear new clothes instead of hand-me-downs. He also could avoid working in sweatshops and having to rub elbows with all sorts of vile people.

Perhaps best of all, he could afford to pay his own medical bills as well as for the veterinary care of the cats that he loved. That was considered not only to be a matter of pride and love but also a personal responsibility.

Today, however, wealth is accumulated in order to be hoarded, to indulge in vices, and to commit unspeakable evils. For the everyday necessities of living, people nowadays turn to welfare, cyberbegging, and crime. As a consequence, some of the affluent now live an even meaner existence than did the poor of yesterday. 

There additionally is something not only dishonest but suspicious about individuals who insist upon passing themselves off as humanitarians and do-gooders all the while living off the public's dime. These concerns are magnified a thousand fold when they are taking advantage of defenseless cats.

Paul Zhang Killed Off His TNR Colonies

Taurozzi's behavior also raises practical concerns. First of all, where is he getting his cats?

Secondly, how many cats has he trafficked? Thirdly and most pressingly, where did he obtain Winston and what does he have in store for him?

Fourthly, is he a scam artist who not only gouges the public but, worst of all, preys upon cats? Fifthly, what about the conduct of his accomplices, such as Capital City Specialty and Emergency Animal Hospital, VCA Canada Alta Vista Animal Hospital, and Hôpital Vétérinaire Sainte Rose? They are sans doute the largest recipients of Taurozzi's cyberbegging and all of them have lined their pockets at the expense of Coal, Spot, Hercules, and Valérie. 

As despicable as these types of scams are, they are anything but novel. For example, in late 2011 Paul Zhang, a TNR practitioner from the borough of Queens in New York City, cooked up a scheme with a trio of veterinary clinics in order to liquidate his cats. 

He commenced his machinations by borrowing traps from the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals and went on from there to snare at least sixty-two cats from colonies that he managed in Ridgewood, Queens, and Bushwick, Brooklyn. The surgeries who in turn did his dirty work for him were, as expected, only too happy to have received his business.

Eventually Antelyes Animal Hospital at 209 Fresh Pond Road in Middle Village, Queens, grew tired of all the killing but even that epiphany did not occur until it already had dispatched ten of his totally innocent cats to the devil. "We offered to take in some to use as barn cats. He refused. We offered to spay-neuter and release at low-cost. He refused. We offered to find homes for these cats. He refused," the surgery later postulated in its defense.

"He threatened to drown the cats at home. This was when his sick nature was finally displayed to us," the surgery added. "We deeply regret that we even helped him for a short time."

Yet, instead of reporting this diabolical monster to the cops as any halfway upstanding citizen would have done, Antelyes merely told Zhang to take his business elsewhere. As far as it is known, he never was so much as even investigated let alone charged.

That is merely par for the course as far as a shithole like New York City is concerned. All that matters there are bigotry, money, crime, and man's inhumanity to his fellow man and, especially, the animals. (See Cat Defender post of December 22, 2011 entitled "A Rogue TNR Practitioner and Three Unscrupulous Veterinarians Kill at Least Sixty-Two Cats with the Complicity of the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals.")

In such scams, the owners and caretakers of cats are able to get shed of them expeditiously and cheaply while their accomplices within the veterinary medical profession are able to financially clean up like Jesse James. Everybody wins except, of course, their totally innocent and defenseless victims.

The Canadian media, Go Fund Me, the politicians on Parliament Hill, and all so-called animal protection groups in Ottawa must not be allowed to escape censure either because they surely must have been cognizant of what Taurozzi has been up to for at least the past nine years. Many cats have been trafficked, exploited, and murdered and, even worse, countless others are destined to suffer the same cruel and unjust fates all because Canadians stubbornly refuse to enforce the anti-cruelty statutes and, more importantly, to properly value feline lives.

As lyricists Billy Rose and E.Y. Harburg concluded in their 1933 timeless classic, "It's Only a Paper Moon:" 

"It's a Barnum and Bailey world

 Just as phony as it can be."

Yes indeed it is all one long-running gag whereby cat-killing owners dissemble as cat-lovers, butchers disguise themselves as veterinarians, feline extermination camps pretend to be shelters, and Animal Control wannabees playact as TNR practitioners. The tragedy, and the crime, is that Coal, Spot, Hercules, and Valérie found that out much too late and, as a consequence, they wound up paying the ultimate price for Taurozzi's perfidy.

Photos:  Danny Taurozzi (Coal), The Balam Foundation (Tinkerbelle and Phaedra Barratt), Go Fund Me (Hercules and Valérie), and the Gothamist (Zhang).