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Cat Defender

Exposing the Lies and Crimes of Bird Advocates, Wildlife Biologists, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, PETA, the Humane Society of the United States, Exterminators, Vivisectors, the Scientific Community, Fur Traffickers, Cloners, Breeders, Designer Pet Purveyors, Hoarders, Motorists, the United States Military, and Other Ailurophobes

Friday, June 26, 2009

Emaciated and Suffering from the Flu, Katzen-Mama Fights Off a Vicious Fox in Order to Save Her Four Kittens

An Injured Katzen-Mama on the Examination Table at the Vet

"Eine Mutter mit einem Loewenherz."
-- Gabi Bayer's description of Katzen-Mama

Suffering from the debilitating effects of the cat flu, Katzen-Mama's weight had plummeted to only two and one-half kilos. Plus, she was nursing four, eight-week-old kittens.

Starved half to death and as weak as water, the brown, black, and white mother cat must have looked like easy pickings to a rapacious fox when it strolled onto the grounds of a recycling plant in the Dortmund suburb of Deusen in the German state of Nordrhein Westfalen on June 7th.

Appearances can be deceiving and, as the intruder discovered to its chagrin, no predator should ever underestimate the lengths that a mother cat will go to in order to protect her newborn. (See Cat Defender posts of July 3, 2008 and September 15, 2005 entitled, respectively, "Phoenix Is Severely Burned but Still Manages to Save One of Her Kittens from the Humboldt Fire" and "Scarlett, the Cat Who Saved Her Kittens from a Burning Building in 1996, Is Still Alive on Long Island.")

A violent altercation ensued during which Katzen-Mama sustained several bite wounds to her sides but in the end it was the fox who was forced to flee not only empty-handed but for the sake of saving its own skin. "Eine Mutter mit einem Loewenherz," is how Gabi Bayer of Arche 90 in Dortmund described the cat's courage to the Halterner Zeitung on June 11th. (See "Katzen-Mama schlaegt Fuchs in die Flucht.")

Sometimes even bravery is insufficient in order to ensure survival and Katzen-Mama easily could have died from her wounds and that would have left her kittens to fend for themselves in a hostile world.

Fortunately, she had a guardian angel in the form of an unidentified worker at the recycling plant who had been feeding her for the past two years. Consequently, the kindhearted employee wasted no time in contacting Bayer who immediately came and collected Katzen-Mama and her kittens.

Katzen-Mama Is Examined by Veterinarian Malinda Waechter

Katzen-Mama was taken to veterinarian Malinda Waechter who stitched up her wounds, placed her on antibiotics, and poured some much needed nourishment into her emaciated body.  "Sie bekam auch Antibiotika. Gerade Fuchsbisse koennen schlimme Infektionen ausloesen," she told Bild on June 11th. (See "Tapfere Katzen-Mama schlug Fuchs in die Flucht.")

At last report, Katzen-Mama was still at the veterinary hospital although it is conceivable that she could have been transferred to Arche 90 in order to continue her convalescence. In any event, Bayer does not anticipate any difficulties in procuring a permanent home for her.

"Die Integration duerfte nicht schwer werden, denn die drei bis vier Jahre alte Katze ganz zahm," she told the Halterner Zeitung in the article cited supra. Her docility could be the product of the kindness that she was shown by the plant employee or she previously could have had a home.

As for her kittens, they have been placed in foster care and later will be put up for adoption. Anyone interested in giving either this brave cat or any of her kittens a permanent home is encouraged to contact Arche 90 by telephone at 49-231-875397 or by e-mail at info@arche90.de.

Photos: Cieminski of the Halterner Zeitung (Katzen-Mama) and Stephan Schuetze of Bild (Waechter and Katzen-Mama.)

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Inverness Station Kills Off Its Resident Feline, Diesel, after Fourteen Years of Faithful Service and Companionship


"Diesel was a much-loved personality around the station for well over a decade. She will be sadly missed by staff and customers, including many foreign visitors to Inverness. After meeting Diesel, they often came back with gifts from beds to toys."
-- Michelle Crawford of First ScotRail


The select fraternity of railroad cats lost one of its most illustrious members back in April when the resident feline of Inverness Station, Diesel, was killed off by the Scottish SPCA on orders from First ScotRail. (See photo above.)

Although the official rationale for ending her life was kidney trouble, more than likely she was done in simply because she had become incontinent as so often happens to both elderly cats and humans. Of course, it goes almost without saying that the high muckamucks at First ScotRail were not about to clean up a little urine whenever her kidneys gave out before she could reach the litter box.

Consequently, after fourteen years of loyal service to First ScotRail and the public she most likely was given a jab of sodium pentobarbital and her corpse tossed out with the remainder of the day's rubbish. She certainly deserved better but, with man being the most ungrateful and mercenary of all creatures, her shabby treatment was merely par for the course as far as most cats are concerned.

She thus joins the ranks of such world famous felines as Scarlett and Dewey Readmore Books who were similarly rewarded for their invaluable contributions to mankind. (See Cat Defender posts of October 27, 2008 and December 7, 2006 entitled, respectively, "Loved and Admired All Over the World, Feline Heroine Scarlett Is Killed Off by Her Owner after She Becomes Ill" and "After Nineteen Years of Service and Companionship, Ingrates at Iowa Library Murder Dewey Readmore Books.")

The same fate befell Colin's of Port Taranaki and a newspaper cat named Tripod. (See Cat Defender posts of May 31, 2007 and February 9, 2006 entitled, respectively, "Port Taranaki Kills Off Its World Famous Seafaring Feline, Colin's, at Age Seventeen" and "Newspaper Cat Named Tripod Is Killed Off by Journalists He Befriended in Vermont.")

Even the notoriety enjoyed by Bill Clinton's former cat Socks was insufficient in order to save him from the gallows. (See Cat Defender post of March 12, 2009 entitled "Too Cheap and Lazy to Care for Him During His Final Days, Betty Currie Has Socks Killed Off and His Corpse Burned.")

During her long tenure at Inverness Station, Diesel became well-known not only to local commuters but to tourists from around the world as well. She accordingly quite often received gifts, such as food parcels, from as far away as Finland.

"Diesel was a much-loved personality around the station for well over a decade," the railroad's Michelle Crawford told The Press and Journal of Aberdeen on April 18th. (See "End of an Era at Railway Station.") "She will be sadly missed by the staff and customers, including many visitors to Inverness. After meeting Diesel, they often came back with gifts from beds to toys."

Another famous feline with railroading in her blood is a pretty fourteen-year-old tortoiseshell named Tama who made headlines last summer after it was announced that she had been appointed a stationmaster on Wakayama Electric Railway's Kishigawa Line in western Japan. (See photo above.)

Since her appointment, both ridership and revenues have skyrocketed which proves once again that whatever man can do a cat can do even better. (See Cat Defender post of June 2, 2008 entitled "Ridership Soars as Tama Takes Over as a Stationmaster on Money-Losing Commuter Train Line.")

At King's Cross Station in London, a former shelter cat named Tizer has made quite an impact following his appointment as an honorary constable and head mouser by the British Transportation Police in 2007. (See Cat Defender post of November 23, 2007 entitled "Tizer Lands a Job Working for the Police After Ending Up at a Shelter Following the Death of His Previous Owner.")

Not all feline encounters with trains turn out to be positive affairs, however. For example, a South Bend cat named Rascal wound up in Chattanooga after she wandered onto an idle freight train. Luckily, everything turned out all right for her thanks to the kindness that she was shown by the employees of floor covering distributor Primavera and she eventually was reunited with her guardians in Indiana. (See Cat Defender post of June 7, 2007 entitled "Rascal Hops Freight Train in South Bend and Unwittingly Ends Up in Chattanooga.")

At Inverness Station, however, officials of First ScotRail have not announced any plans to either erect a memorial in Diesel's honor or to find a replacement for her.

Photos: BBC (Diesel) and China Daily (Tama).

Monday, June 15, 2009

The American Bird Conservancy, The New York Times, and the Humane Society of the United States Unite to Form an Achse des Bösen Against Cats


"In the end it doesn't really matter what the numbers are. Cats are a domesticated species and they should not be outdoors hunting wildlife. So whether it's one blue jay who is killed or millions of songbirds it's a real problem."
-- Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats and HSUS


Since they have been slobbering on the same dirty lollipop for years, it really did not come as any surprise when the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and its allies, The New York Times and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), united earlier this month in order to form an Achse des Bösen against cats.

The ABC's contribution to this conspiracy is a nine-minute, anti-cat video entitled "Trap, Neuter, and Release: Bad for Cats, Disaster for Birds." It immediately received the wholehearted endorsement of Andrew C. Revkin of The New York Times on June 2nd in an article entitled "The Truth About Cats and Birds?"

Not about for one moment to be left out in the cold when there are shekels to be made at the expense of cats, the HSUS responded in kind with a video that bears the misnomer "Trap-Neuter-Return: Fixing Feral Cat Overpopulation." A far more accurate title would have been "Putting the Screws to Feral and Stray Cats Once and For All Time."

The ABC's latest propaganda offensive does not break any new ground; rather, it is merely a recitation of the cat-haters' old lies and prejudices. Consequently, its chief value lies in the rare peek that it offers into the workings of diseased and hate-filled minds.

On the intellectual level, it is barely coherent and sophomoric at best. The eight old hacks interviewed either have nothing meaningful to say or contradict themselves time and time again. Considering all the tens of millions of dollars that it has at its disposal, it is truly astounding that the ABC would present to the public such a half-baked, slipshod effort.

In addition to demonizing cats as the source of all evil in creation, the ABC's other objective is to discredit and outlaw TNR. In its place, the ABC and its allies within the various Audubons and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) want all feral and stray cats to be rounded up and slaughtered.

Moreover, they want all domestic cats to be confined indoors from womb to tomb. In other words, they are attempting to subvert the right of property owners to even allow their cats to play in their very own yards!

Being not only outrageous liars but cowards as well, the ABC clumsily attempts to bamboozle the public into believing that homes, shelters, and indoor sanctuaries can be found for all of the one-hundred-twenty-million homeless cats that it claims exist in America. With shelter employees, Animal Control officers, veterinarians, and the USFWS and its affiliated agencies already exterminating between ten and fifteen million cats per year, the ABC's ludicrous proposal reveals the depths of its dishonesty and moral depravity.

As per usual, the ABC dredges up the likes of Deborah Holle of USFWS and retired Army veterinarian Paul Barrows to ridiculously argue that it is far more humane to deprive all feral and stray cats of their lives than to allow them to live outside. In that respect, the ABC, Audubons, and the USFWS are in total agreement with the cat-haters at slimy and despicable PETA.

As a sop to critics of such a diabolical plan, the ABC summons to the microphone Anne Morkill of the USFWS who grudgingly concedes that she might be able to live with a plan that would trap, neuter, and relocate a few feral cats as recently was done on Florida's Big Pine Key. She deliberately refuses to disclose, however, exactly how many cats were relocated as opposed to trapped and killed during that operation. (See Cat Defender post of May 24, 2007 entitled, "USDA and Fish and Wildlife Service Commence Trapping and Killing Cats on Florida's Big Pine Key.")

As far as the efficacy of TNR is concerned, the ABC relies solely upon the unsupported opinions of Holle, Barrows, and other confidants. At no time in the video do any of these frauds offer one iota of evidence in order to back up their prejudices.

Most glaringly, of the thousands of TNR programs in place across the nation the ABC selects only two for analysis. Even in those instances it manipulates the data in order to suit its own evil designs.

Even though the TNR program in situ at Ocean Reef on Key Largo has reduced the number of feral cats from two-thousand to fewer than five-hundred, the ABC labels the program a miserable failure. Even one cat, domestic or feral, still above ground would be one too many as far as it is concerned.

The other example cited by the ABC is that of A. D. Barnes Park in Miami where it enlists Brian Riposa of Tropical Audubon to declare TNR to be a failure because of individuals using the site in order to dump unwanted cats. (See photo directly below.)

It is, however, wildlife photographer Steve Siegel who gives the game away when he appears on camera to confess that he cannot abide the sight of either the cats or their caretakers. "Every time they come out to feed the cats they are detracting from my personal enjoyment of the same area that they are using," he whines.

A statement such as that calls into question Siegel's views on minorities, dogs, joggers, and others who also use the park. After all, Barnes is a public facility and not Siegel's own private fiefdom. If bird advocates want to own all of nature and thus be able to exclude animals and individuals that they hate they should be prepared to part with a few of their precious shekels and go out and buy the entire world. If not, they should stop being such fascist and bigoted slobs and learn to share the earth.

Although the principal raison d'etre behind the video is to trash TNR, the ABC was by no means about to restrain itself, especially when it has at its disposal so many lies and prejudices to spread about cats. Most hilarious of all, it permits Holle to declare that the presence of feral cats attracts mice which in turn chew up hot tubs and electrical wiring.

As any fool knows, it is precisely the presence of cats that keep rodent populations in check. In fact, cats do not even have to be especially proficient hunters in that their smell is usually sufficient in order to drive away mice.

That point was demonstrated a couple of years back when vivisectors at the University of Tokyo altered circuitry in the brains of mice that normally cause them to associate the smell of a cat with predation. (See Daily Telegraph, July 11, 2007, "Cat and Mouse Game Driven by Smell of Fear.")

Consequently, genetically manipulated mice will nonchalantly stroll up to cats. (See photo below.)

Much more importantly, the ABC deliberately neglects to mention that it is precisely birds and wildlife which wreak havoc in backyards. Birds, for example, foul laundry, automobiles, lawn furniture, and children's toys with their excrement while moles, squirrels, raccoons, and other animals destroy all sorts of property.

Curiously enough, although homeowners rarely go berserk at the damage done by birds and wildlife, a cat merely strolling through their lawns is enough to drive some of them over the edge. Public officials behave in much the same fashion by laughing off complaints lodged against wildlife while dispatching death squads to deal with feral and stray cats.

In spite of all of that, blowhard Barrows has the nerve to accuse cats of not only creating a nuisance but of endangering public health by spreading rabies and toxoplasmosis. First of all, as a veterinarian Barrows should know that rabies is extremely rare in cats.

Moreover, whenever cats do contract the disease it is almost always from wild animals that wildlife officials at both the state and national level insist have a right to live in urban communities. (See Cat Defender posts of August 28, 2006, October 2, 2006, and July 19, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Marauding Packs of Vicious Raccoons Rip Ten House Cats to Shreds and Terrorize Residents but Wildlife Officials Refuse to Intervene," "Coyotes, Cheered on by Wildlife Officials, Join Raccoons in Killing Cats and Dogs in Washington State," and "Up to Their Old Tricks, Wildlife Officials Reintroduce Fishers to the Northeast to Prey Upon Cats and to Provide Income for Fur Traffickers.")

At the same time that the USFWS is busy insisting that wildlife has an absolute right to live in homeowners' backyards and to dine on their cats and dogs, its sister agency, Wildlife Services, a division of the United States Department of Agriculture, is spending around $120 million each year in order to exterminate between two and three million wild animals at the request of farmers, ranchers, developers, golf course operators, and swimming pool proprietors. (See Cat Defender posts of September 15, 2005 and March 10, 2009 entitled, respectively, "United States Government Exterminates Millions of Wild Animals at the Behest of Capitalists" and "Audubons' Dirty Dealings with the Mercenary United States Fish and Wildlife Service Redound to the Detriment of Acorn Woodpeckers.")

As far as toxoplasmosis in concerned, it also is spread by wildlife in addition to cats. Moreover, the spread of the disease is easily controlled by the thorough washing of fruit and vegetables as well as hands after changing litter boxes.

It is birds, however, that are the real menace to public health. For instance, they are not only responsible for spreading the West Nile Virus, but all types of influenza, such as Schweinegrippe (H1N1) and Vogelgrippe (H5N1), as well.

Even dead birds can be dangerous. For example, researchers recently have discovered that Vogelgrippe can live on in the carcasses of dead birds deposited in landfills for as long as two years. As such, they pose a threat to scavengers as well as landfill personnel. (See the Discovery Channel, June 9, 2009, "Bird Flu Survives in Landfills.")

An influenza pandemic could kill billions of people and wreck the world's economy and yet no one would dare suggest that birds be either killed or caged. Yet that is precisely the sottise that the ABC, Audubons, and the USFWS are suggesting be done to cats because a few of them occasionally contract rabies from wildlife. Moreover, it is a sure bet that when the next influenza pandemic strikes that absolutely nobody is going to give a rat's ass about a few isolated cases of rabies!

At this juncture the ABC trots out Andrew Samson, a former director of Texas Wildlife and Parks, in order to preach the gospel that feral cats are a threat to the state's multimillion-dollar bird-watching industry. In doing so, he has aligned himself with notorious serial cat killer and inveterate shekel chaser, James Munn Stevenson. (See Cat Defender post of August 14, 2008 entitled "Crime Pays! Having Made Fools Out of Galveston Prosecutors, Serial Cat Killer James Munn Stevenson Is Now a Hero and Laughing All the Way to the Bank.")

Much more to the point, it is difficult to imagine how ecotourism could ever be good for either wildlife or the environment. For example, the rare birds, mammals, and reptiles of the Galapagos Islands currently are being threatened by mosquitoes brought in from mainland Ecuador by tourists. (See The Independent, June 2, 2009, "Mosquito Evolves into Threat to Galapagos Wildlife" and Cat Defender post of March 20, 2006 entitled "Luna, the Killer Whale Who Loved People, Is Killed by a Tugboat Off Vancouver Island.")

Since birders and wildlife advocates are such liars and hypocrites about everything else it is not surprising that they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the detrimental impact that their shekel accumulation activities are having upon wildlife and the environment. The best defense always has been a good offense and so long as they are able to keep the heat on cats and their protectors they are free to continue abusing wildlife and ravaging the planet to their black hearts' content.

In addition to spreading deadly diseases, birds destroy billions of dollars worth of crops each year, ignite forest fires, and prey upon, inter alia, fish, small mammals, and insects. They also kill cats and kittens. (See Cat Defender posts of August 14, 2008 and July 31, 2006 entitled, respectively, "Birds Killing Cats: Blackie Is Abducted by a Sea Gull and Then Dropped but Her Fall Is Broken by a Barbed-Wire Fence" and "Fifteen-Year-Old Cat Named Bamboo Miraculously Survives Being Abducted and Mauled by a Hoot Owl in British Columbia.")

Earlier this month in the Buckinghamshire community of Aylesbury, a seven-month-old cat named Holly was besieged by crows after she became stranded in a tree. (See photo below.)

The crows took turns attacking her and even tried to jar her loose from her perch by shaking the branches of the tree. (See Daily Mirror, June 4, 2009, "Crows Attack Cat Stuck Seventy Feet Up Tree.")

Fortunately, firemen rescued her and the ravenous crows were forced to look elsewhere for their next victim. If Holly had been living in America, she probably would not have survived because firefighters on this side of the pond are too lazy to be bothered with rescuing stranded cats. (See Cat Defender posts of February 20, 2007 and March 20, 2008 entitled, respectively, "Stray Cat Ignominiously Named Stinky Is Rescued from Rooftop by Good Samaritans After Fire Department Refuses to Help" and "Bone-Lazy, Mendacious Firefighters Are Costing the Lives of Both Cats and Humans by Refusing to Do Their Duty.")

As far as the second spoke in this Achse des Boesen is concerned, it is extremely difficult to find anything positive to say about the thoroughly dishonest New York Times. Its blatant lies about the war in Iraq, the Jayson Blair and Rick Bragg scandals, as well as its racist attacks upon Koreans and Chinese readily come to mind as examples of the disreputable journalism practiced by the Sulzberger clan and their minions. The forces of evil afoot in this world know only too well that they have staunch allies in the smug, conceited, clever little liars who toil away at The Times.

It was, however, the paper's hiring of bird advocate Bruce Barcott and Brooklyn artist Jillian Tamaki in order to defame cats and thus defend serial cat killer James Munn Stevenson that demonstrated its utter contempt for both the truth and objective journalism. (See Cat Defender post of December 8, 2007 entitled "All the Lies That Fit. Scheming New York Times Hires a Bird Lover to Render His 'Unbiased' Support for James M. Stevenson.")

Revkin's aforementioned June 2nd article is a continuation of Barcott's one-sided, anti-cat drivel. (See photo of him below on the left.) For starters, he devotes much of his column to his neighbor, Suzie Gilbert, and her lies about cats.

He generously allows her to claim that belled and declawed cats kill more birds than their opposites but fails to require that she substantiate such outlandish claims. The third study that she makes an oblique reference to was conducted by biologists at a wildlife experiment station and therefore does not have any credibility whatsoever.

There is an old saying that there are liars, damned liars, and liars who quote statistics and the latter most certainly applies to Gilbert and her cronies. Whether it be on the political stump, in print, or in the classroom, individuals should not be permitted to get away with citing as gospel obscure studies that no one outside their immediate clique has ever read. For an empirical study to have an iota of validity several prerequisites must be satisfied.

First of all, it must be disclosed who paid for the study. Secondly, the credentials of the studies' authors must be scrutinized. Thirdly, the theories being tested must be closely examined for their soundness. Finally, the collection and analysis of the data must be closely monitored.

Most of what is passed off today as science is mere prejudice and outright lies, such as the ABC's video. Unless readers are granted access to empirical studies, citing them is dishonest.

Like Holle and Barrows, Gilbert ridiculously claims that she is concerned about the dangers faced by outdoor cats. That is such a patently disingenuous argument that inveterate cat haters, such as she, would be better off omitting it from their anti-cat screeds. Continually trotting it out in the midst of their cries that all cats should be rounded up and exterminated serves only to make them appear to be mentally unhinged as well as ailurophobic.

Gilbert then proceeds to chastise cat owners for allowing their charges outside. "Those who 'love' their cats might want to show it by keeping them inside, where they are safe and secure," she screeches like an old, worn-out hoot owl.

First of all, cat haters do not have any business telling cat owners what to do with their cats. Secondly, cats always have lived outdoors and that is precisely where they belong.

They are neither second-class citizens of this planet nor the prisoners of birders and wildlife biologists. To confine them in any way constitutes the very epitome of animal cruelty.

The real threat faced by outdoor cats comes from neither disease nor automobiles, but rather from bird and wildlife advocates who time and time again have demonstrated their true characters by taking the law into their own hands and either gunning them down, like James Munn Stevenson, or by stealing and dumping them at shelters and faraway locations. (See Cat Defender posts of June 15, 2006, October 30, 2006, and October 30, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Serial Cat Killer on Long Island Traps Neighbors' Cats and Then Gives Them to Shelter to Exterminate," "Collar Saves a Cat Named Turbo from Extermination After He Is Illegally Trapped by Bird-Loving Psychopaths" and "Crafty Bird Lover Claims Responsibility for Stealing Six Cats from a Southampton Neighborhood and Concealing Their Whereabouts.")

Thirdly, contrary to everything that birders and wildlife advocates believe and preach, they do not own the great outdoors. Moreover, it is not for them to decide which species are going to be allowed to live and under what circumstances. To even harbor such megalomaniacal delusions is in itself a sign of advanced mental illness.

If they are allowed to continue to kill cats with impunity, there never will be an end to their heinous crimes. The Connecticut Audubon Society already is on record as stating that it wants to exterminate deer, ducks, geese, and swans as well as cats. (See Cat Defender post of March 15, 2007 entitled "Connecticut Audubon Society Shows Its True Colors by Calling for the Slaughter of Feral Cats, Mute Swans, Mallards, Canada Geese, and Deer.")

Finally, as Gilbert and everyone else knows, indoor environments are lethal to cats. (See Cat Defender posts of August 22, 2007 and October 19, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Indoor Cats Are Dying from Diabetes, Hyperthyroidism, and Various Toxins in the Home" and "Smokers Are Killing Their Cats, Dogs, Birds, and Infants by Continuing to Light Up in Their Presence.")

A far more constructive plan would be to confine all birders and wildlife biologists indoors, preferably in either penal institutions or asylums for the criminally insane. That is about the only way nature can be safeguarded from their shenanigans.

Revkin then engages in a little leger de main with Bob Sallinger of the Portland Audubon Society wherein the latter expresses some light skepticism about killing cats. That sure is a far cry from what he told Barcott in December of 2007. On that memorable occasion, he did not have a kind word to say about cats.

Revkin next appears to endorse the ABC's view that cats should not be allowed to play in their own backyards while hypocritically rejecting the notion that his dog be likewise constrained. According to him, it is perfectly acceptable for dogs to kill rabbits, squirrels, and skunks with impunity.

In a poorly disguised effort designed to give the impression of being a halfway honest journalist, Revkin posts a seven-minute and fifteen-second video purported to have been produced by HSUS and in favor of TNR. In reality, however, the video was produced by Bryan Kortis of Neighborhood Cats (NC) in Manhattan with funding provided by the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust of Cleveland.

Even more astonishing, the video is actually slightly longer than sixteen minutes. It was posted on YouTube in two parts approximately nine months ago by someone called Friend of Feral Animals. The video also is available in its entirety on HSUS's web site.

When viewed in two parts, the video presents a Jekyll and Hyde picture of feral cats and TNR. Part one is so scurrilous and defamatory that the ABC would be proud to call it one of its own, while part two renders a qualified endorsement of TNR under certain circumstances.

It therefore is perfectly clear why Revkin did not want readers of his sleazy rag to see the second half of the video. Even on YouTube part one had been viewed six-hundred-sixty-one times as of June 11th as compared with only one-hundred-ninety-five viewings of part two.

Clearly, most individuals viewing this video either on The New York Times' web site or YouTube are coming away with the impression that both HSUS and NC are vociferously opposed to feral cats and TNR. Even more disturbingly, since there is nothing in the record to indicate that either organization has complained about Revkin's blatant dishonesty, it can only be assumed that they agree with what he did.

Kortis commences his assault upon feral cats by calling upon Robert J. Gogats of the Health Department in Burlington County, New Jersey, to substantiate the claim made by Holle and Barrows that cats spread rabies. He next turns to Gogats's colleague, William M. Weisgarber, who repeats the old lies that cats make too much noise, stink, and dig up neighbors' yards.

First of all, a cat in heat meowing is nothing compared to dogs barking all night, birds chirping and cawing at all hours, the din churned up by vehicular traffic, TVs and radios blaring, and inconsiderate gasbags pounding the pavement day and night while shouting into their mobile phones. Secondly, if grass and dirt are available, cats cover up their excrement. Thirdly, cats do considerably less digging in yards than do wild animals.

Kortis then turns to Julie Levy of the University of Florida who bemoans what she sees as the short, brutish, and nasty existence of ferals living in unmanaged colonies.

Most nauseating of all, Kortis launches into a long lament for shelter workers and Animal Control officers. In doing so, he calls upon Jody Jones, an animal control officer in Richmond, Virginia, and Texas A&M veterinarian Margaret R. Slater to decry the expense of exterminating millions of cats each year.

Far from being praised, Jones, Slater, and their accomplices should be arrested and jailed for the remainder of miserable lives for slaughtering totally innocent cats, dogs, and other animals. Killing defenseless animals is morally indefensible and there is not any middle ground on this issue.

Nevertheless, the glorification of mass animal killers coupled with the demonization of homeless cats is a persistent theme with the capitalist media. (See Cat Defender posts of September 30, 2005, May 11, 2006, and September 14, 2006 entitled, respectively, "Morally Bankrupt Washington Post Pens a Love Letter to Shelter Workers Who Exterminate Cats and Dogs," "Mass Murderers at SPCA Are Operating an Auschwitz for Cats and Dogs in Lakeland, Florida" and "Cat Killing Season Is in Full Swing All Across America as Shelters Ramp Up Their Mass Extermination Pogroms.")

There are in fact some experts, such as Nathan Winograd of No Kill Solutions, who insist that pet overpopulation is a myth. That which is not in dispute, however, is that killing cats and dogs is big business.

Not only are tens of thousands of shelter workers, Animal Control officers, and veterinarians employed in killing defenseless animals, but the manufacture and sale of sodium pentobarbital and gas chambers are both lucrative enterprises. Finally, there is money to be made from the bagging, burning, and disposal of the animals' corpses as well as their sale to medical colleges and high schools for dissection.

In spite of the fact that birders, the USFWS, The New York Times, and National Geographic never allow cat advocates to be heard in their videos, publications, and on their web sites, Kortis generously turns over his microphone to Eric Stiles of New Jersey Audubon who avails himself of the opportunity to accuse cats of killing birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Quite as expected, he hypocritically ignores the petit fait that birds do the same thing in addition to killing cats and kittens. (See photo of him above on the right.)

In particular, migratory birds feast upon horseshoe crabs at the Jersey Shore with Stiles's full endorsement. "We applaud the successful effort of legislators to secure this treasure and ensure we don't cook the golden goose by destroying a multimillion-dollar wildlife watching tourism industry," he salivated last year in an interview that echoes comments made by Samsom in ABC's video. (See Cat Defender post of May 6, 2008 entitled "National Audubon Society Wins the Right for Invasive Species of Shorebirds to Prey Upon Unborn Horseshoe Crabs.")

Stiles then charges that cats compete with skunks, opossums, and raccoons for food. He has got that backwards. It is precisely the presence of feral cat feeding stations that are sustaining wildlife and bird populations.

Through their gargantuan greed and support for unchecked development, individuals such as Stiles have destroyed woodlands and wetlands that used to teem with not only small animals and insects but fruit and berries as well. Furthermore, whenever a coyote, raccoon, or fisher kills a cat birders and wildlife advocates break out the champagne and celebrate. This is another classic example of how intellectually dishonest cat-haters argue on both sides of an issue so long as it is to the detriment of cats.

If all of that were not bad enough, Kortis concludes the first half of the video by endorsing the opposition's view that cats are a domesticated species and do not belong outdoors. "In the end it doesn't really matter what the numbers are. Cats are a domesticated species and they should not be outdoors hunting wildlife. So whether it's one blue jay who is killed or millions of songbirds it's a real problem," he opines. (See photo of him directly above on the left.)

He is clearly wrong on all counts. Of the five subspecies of wild cats (Felis silvestris), only Felis silvestris lybica has been domesticated and it only to a rather limited extent. In reality, it domesticated itself and lives with man only so long as doing so suits its purposes. It has lived outdoors throughout its existence and is more than capable of doing so under most circumstances. (See Cat Defender post of December 5, 2007 entitled "Decoding the Feline Genome Provides Vivisectors with Thousands of New Excuses to Continue Torturing Cats in the Course of Their Bogus Research.")

As far as feline predation of birds is concerned, whenever the latter stops killing cats, insects, horseshoe crabs, mammals, and fish it will be time to access the impact that cats are having on the environment. Until that day arrives, whatever Kortis, birders, the wildlife biologists have to say on this subject should be dismissed as the hypocritical rantings of inveterate cat haters.

In part two of the video that Revkin took such great pains to preclude the public from seeing, Jones magically reappears in order to declare that trap and kill does not work. Levy, Stacy LeBaron of the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Gordon Stull of the Burlington County Feral Cat Initiative, and Kimberly A. Brown, mayor of Tabernacle, New Jersey, all make cameo appearances in order to declare that TNR works.

The piece de resistance, however, is the belated appearance on camera of old Janus-faced, four-flusher Nancy Peterson of HSUS. "The past fifteen years in the United States has shown that feral cat strategies, such as trap, neuter, and return, can be very effective in improving their lives and controlling their numbers," she declares with a straight face.

In making such a statement as that, Peterson is amateurishly attempting to rewrite history because up until 2006 the HSUS had labeled TNR as "subsidized abandonment." (See photo of her below on the right.)

Even to this very day the HSUS is stridently opposed to cats being allowed outside. "The Humane Society of the United States believes the best and safest place for cats to reside is in people's homes," it plainly declares on its web site.

What HSUS and NC are up to with all their double-talk and dealing from both ends of the deck becomes clearer toward the end of the video. "If we want to bring the numbers of feral cats down we really need to have a broad-based, community-wide approach and that's going to involve veterinarians, wildlife advocates, animal shelters, health professionals, (and) municipal officials, who all come together to embrace the idea of trap, neuter, return," Peterson states.

Das heisst, HSUS and NC unilaterally have decided to assume the roles of fifth columnists and to deliver cats to their mortal enemies on a silver platter. The ABC's video and the deeds and words of birders and wildlife biologists preclude the notion that any compromise is possible and both HSUS and NC know that as well as everyone else.

As Barrows makes perfectly clear, the real battle is just beginning. "People who are supporting these programs (TNR) with full knowledge that these cats are out there as non-native, midsize predators that may be impacting on these endangered species, I believe that there are some potential legal concerns there and some legal justification for ensuring that these colonies do not continue to persist," he warns in ABC's video.

More importantly, NC has a history of selling out cats. For example, back in 2007 when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey declared war on JFK's population of feral cats NC was nowhere to be found. Furthermore, the Mayor's Alliance for NYC Animals, of which NC is a member, tried to fob off responsibility for the cats onto Alley Cat Allies. (See Cat Defender post of November 5, 2007 entitled "Port Authority Gives JFK's Long-Term Resident Felines the Boot and Rescue Groups Are Too Impotent to Save Them.")

The HSUS's collusion with cat killers is even more egregious. For instance, when the USFWS announced in June of 2008 that is was going to gun down two-hundred cats on San Nicolas Island the HSUS was publicly appalled.

"In absolutely no case should USFWS shoot cats on San Nicolas Island," Peterson unequivocally declared at that time. (See Cat Defender post of June 27, 2008 entitled "United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the Navy Hatch a Diabolical Plan to Gun Down Two-Hundred Cats on San Nicolas Island.")

By November of last year the HSUS's moral outrage had abated and it did an abrupt about-face and struck a deal with the USFWS whereby the killings were allowed to proceed as planned so long as it was permitted to humanely trap and remove a handful of the cats to the mainland. Even more outrageously, the HSUS conceded to the USFWS's demand that even those cats rescued be imprisoned inside for the remainder of their brief lives. (See Cat Defender post of April 28, 2009 entitled "Quislings at the Humane Society Sell Out San Nicolas's Cats to the Assassins at the Diabolical United States Fish and Wildlife Service.")

Although there is not any way to verify it, the HSUS maintains that it has saved seven cats from the USFWS's assassins. This policy is fully supported by NC who, like the HSUS, is still badgering the public for money in order to feed and shelter those cats.

That brings up the often overlooked fact that in spite of an annual operating budget of in excess of $120 million, the HSUS does not shelter, feed, water, sterilize, or find homes for any cats. Even those saved from the hangman on San Nicolas are being attended to at the CARE Sanctuary in Littlerock, California.

Much of the same criticism is a propos as far as NC is concerned. Although it brags on its web site that it produces a ton of educational materials relating to feral cats and makes presentations at conferences and seminars, there is not any evidence that it actually spends a sou caring for cats.

If it were doing its fair share, it would be candid about how many cats it feeds and shelters each day as well as the number that it sterilizes and vaccinates. Just as importantly, it should inform its contributors exactly how many cats it places in good homes. Above all, it should make a public accounting of how much money it spends directly on cats.

Despite their steadfast unwillingness to spend any money on cats, HSUS and NC are attempting to usurp the rights of feral cat caretakers and put the management of all colonies under either their or governmental control. Under such a dishonest arrangement, the cats' long-term caretakers still would be expected to foot the bill for maintaining the colonies while the HSUS and NC would continue to not only line their pockets but to cut all sorts of weasel deals with birders and the USFWS.

The HSUS is up to the same old tricks with feral cats that it has played with lab animals for so long. "HSUS really needs to be called to task for its triple-sided hypocrisy," Dr. Pat Cleveland, formerly of the University of California at San Diego, said a while back. "When HSUS addresses scientists they say they support animal research as necessary. When HSUS addresses the public they say it is evil but sometimes necessary. When HSUS addresses its members and other animal rights groups, they say it is evil and unnecessary."

Cleveland Amory minced no words when once asked about the organization. "I'm not an admirer of HSUS. They've always been primarily a direct mail operation, and what's known in animal rights circles as a credit-grabber."

Sadly, his own organization, The Fund for Animals, merged with HSUS shortly after his death. The author of The Cat Who Came for Christmas and his beloved Polar Bear must be turning in their graves as the result of the HSUS's war on cats.

Make no mistake about it, the only persons and groups qualified to speak on behalf of cats are those who recognize the sanctity of all feline life and that all of them have a right to live outdoors. All others are complete frauds.

In the absence of any national organization willing to embrace those fundamental principles and to fight both tooth and nail for their realization, the continued care and security of all feral and stray cats will continue to rest with their caretakers. In marked distinction to the HSUS, NC, birders, and wildlife biologists, these dedicated women and men are not in it for either the money or the power.

On the contrary, all the funding for the food, milk, feeding stations, shelters, sterilizations, and veterinary care comes directly out of their own pockets. So, too, does the money to cover any legal expenses that they occur. (See Cat Defender post of February 26, 2007 entitled "Charged with Feeding a Feral Cat Named Fluffy, Retired Ohio English Teachers Beats the Rap.")

They are not merely the heart, soul, and backbone of the feral cat protection movement, they are the movement. "If I was told it was illegal to feed these cats I would absolutely not stop feeding these cats and I know the neighbors who assist me in this program absolutely would refuse as well," Wanda L. Riddle of New Jersey declared in NC's video.

In conclusion, since both the HSUS and NC contribute nothing financially to the care and welfare of homeless cats and because they are in collusion with birders and wildlife advocates, they should be exposed, denounced, and vociferously opposed at every turn by all genuine cat lovers. Above all, no one should ever give either of these charlatans so much as a lousy nickel.

Instead, they should be told in no uncertain terms that it is high time that they found some type of honest employment and kept their blood-drenched hands and forked tongues off of cats!

Photos: Miami Beach 411 (A.D. Barnes Park), Ko and Reiko Kobayakawa of the University of Tokyo (cat with mouse), Daily Mirror (Holly being attacked by crows), The New York Times (Revkin), New Jersey Public Television and Radio (Stiles), Neighborhood Cats (Kortis), and Veterinary Technician Magazine (Peterson).

Monday, June 08, 2009

Adam Is Persevering Throughout All the Pain Two Years after Having Been Torched by Giggling Teenage Girls in Santa Rosa


"When I'm at work he opens my drawers and drags my clothes all over the house. He drags it (my nightgown) into the living room and sleeps on it."
-- Tina Wright


On June 20, 2007, a two-month-old black kitten named Adam was deliberately set on fire by two giggling teenage girls in Santa Rosa, California. It was a crime so unconscionable that it not only left him horribly disfigured and near death but it also shocked the civilized world. (See Cat Defender post of July 12, 2007 entitled "Burned Nearly to Death by Laughing Teenage Girls, Two-Month-Old Kitten Named Adam Is Fighting for His Life in Santa Rosa.")

Now, almost two years later and following multiple surgeries and skin grafts, the courageous and long-suffering cat is not only still alive but doing about as well as could be expected considering the extent of his massive injuries. (See photo above.)

For example, he sustained second and third degree burns over more than seventy-five per cent of his tiny body and his tail was so badly singed that it had to be amputated. A large patch of skin was burned off his back and his ears were shriveled. (See photo below that was taken shortly after the attack.)

Unfortunately, he is currently beset by irritating tingling sensations in his skin caused by the grafts and this has prompted him to start gnawing at his new skin. He was fitted with an Elizabethan collar but since he found it to be almost as annoying as the tingling sensations his caretakers were forced to look around for another solution.

That is when Dr. Laura Adams and the staff at the Animal Hospital in Cotati decided to try acupuncture and that seems to be working. At least, Adam has proven to be more amenable to the needles than he was to the cumbersome collar.

Interestingly enough, acupuncture, used most often in conjunction with lasers, is now being employed in order to treat, inter alia, inflammation, eating disorders, arthritis, pain, seizures, kidney problems, spinal cord injuries, hip dysplasia, autoimmune diseases, allergies, and emotional issues in cats as well as in humans. (See The Gazette of Colorado Springs, May 15, 2009, "Treating Munchie: Lasers Offer Relief to Elderly Local Cat" and Montana's News Station, June 3, 2009, "Miracle Cat Cure.")

Moreover, it was only a fortnight ago that the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommended to the National Health Service that it provide and pay for spinal manipulation and acupuncture for individuals suffering from persistent lower back pain. In doing so, it also categorically rejected the efficacy of x-rays, MRIs, ultrasound, steroids, and surgery. (See The Independent, May 27, 2009, "NHS Pins Its Hope for Treating Back Pain on Acupuncture.")

Although Adam's long-term prognosis is unclear, he no longer has to worry about where he is going to get either his next meal or where he is going to hang his hat. Tina Wright, a veterinary nurse at the Animal Hospital who has been caring for him from the outset, has solved both of those problems by adopting him.

Adam is said to enjoy playing with Wright's chihuahua, Pebbles, lying in the sun, and rummaging through her drawers. (See photo above of the happy couple.)

"When I'm at work he opens my drawers and drags my clothes all over the house," she confided to The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa on May 26th. (See "Adam the Cat on Pins and Needles.") "He drags (my nightgown) into the living room and sleeps on it."

As for the two fifteen-year-old miscreants arrested on July 6, 2007 and charged with torching Adam, the record of the judicial proceedings against them has been sealed and nothing has been made public. It is pretty much a foregone conclusion, however, that they got off scot-free.

It is rare that the law enforcement community ever treats crimes committed against cats seriously, regardless of the ages of the perpetrators. As a consequence, it is therefore precisely the police, prosecutors, and judges who are au fond to blame for the fact that these types of horrific crimes continue unabated.

For instance, officers with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals on June 3rd arrested seventeen-year-old Cheyenne Cherry of the Bronx and charged her with cooking to death a cat named Tiger Lily that belonged to her former roommate, Valerie Hernandez. (See photo above of Cherry.)

Cherry and an unidentified juvenile broke into Hernandez's Tinton Avenue apartment on May 6th, stuffed Tiger Lily into a stove, turned up the heat to in excess of two-hundred degrees, and then left the defenseless cat to be roasted alive. The poor cat was burned so horribly that a necropsy was necessary in order to even determine its sex. (See photo below of Tiger Lily.)

Just as the teens in Santa Rosa giggled their silly heads off at what they had done to Adam, Cherry initially dismissed her coldblooded murder of Tiger Lily as a joke. She later amended that statement and, according to the June 5th edition of the New York Daily News, told investigators, "I hate cats!" (See "Bronx Teen Confesses to Roasting Kitten.")

Because Cherry not only trashed the flat but also stole several items from it, she has been charged with burglary, arson, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief as well as aggravated cruelty to an animal. Her accomplice has neither been identified nor charged.

Despite having been arrested on at least three prior occasions, Cherry has been released without bail into the custody of her mother and is scheduled to appear in a Bronx court on July 15th before Judge John J. Byrne. (See New York Daily News, June 6, 2009, "Cheyenne Cherry, Teen Accused of Burning Cat in Oven, Was Busted in 2008 in Armed Dog-Napping.")

Because of Cherry's heinous act, there never can be a happy ending as far as Tiger Lily is concerned. Little Adam, on the other hand, stands a fair chance of breaking with the age-old pattern of sorrow and death that characterizes just about all feline abuse cases.

If he indeed does pull through, a lion's share of the credit belongs to the dedicated individuals at the Animal Hospital as well as those at Forgotten Felines. By rushing to his side in his hour of greatest need and for standing by him so steadfastly during his long recuperation, they are indeed an inspiration to lovers of the species everywhere.

As for Adam, all the superlatives in the King's English could never do justice to his indomitable spirit, his seemingly boundless capacity to endure suffering, and his abiding will to live. Hopefully, he will be able to summon the strength needed in order to persevere through this latest setback and go on to live a long and fruitful life. If there ever was a cat that deserved at least that much out of this wicked old ailurophobic world it is him.

Photos: The Press Democrat (Adam) and MySpace (Cherry and Tiger Lily).

Monday, June 01, 2009

Blind and Deaf on Her Left Side as the Result of a Bow and Arrow Attack by a Juvenile Miscreant, Valentine Is Still Looking for a Permanent Home

The Projectile Narrowly Missed Her Brain

"This was not an accident. I think this cat had to have been held down. This person was a great shot to get it right through the eye. Either the cat was held down or tied down, is my personal feeling."
-- Sheri L. Schneider of Simply Cats

Long suffering little Valentine is an awfully patient cat. Four and one-half months after having been shot through the eye with an arrow, she is still waiting for her forever home.

Back on January 20th, the then nine-month-old gray and brown moggy was discovered by an unidentified good Samaritan on Redmon Road in the Boise suburb of Caldwell with an arrow protruding from her left orb. The projectile had been fired with such velocity that it actually had gone through the back of her tiny head.

Compounding the deplorable situation even further, it was estimated by local residents that she had been wandering around Caldwell for at least a week with the arrow embedded in her eye. Once corralled, she was rushed to WestVet Emergency and Specialty Center in nearby Meridian where surgeon Sean Murphy magnanimously removed the barb gratis

Although Valentine lost her left eye and the hearing in her left ear she was indeed fortunate to have escaped with her life after such a vicious attack. "To have it not penetrate the brain, just the eye and ear and have it come about three or four millimeters from the brain, she's a lucky cat," Murphy told KBCI-TV of Boise on January 21st. (See "Stray Cat Found with Arrow Through Its Head.")

Just the thought of the excruciating pain and despair that she was forced to endure is heartbreaking. The real miracle therefore is not that she survived a delicate operation, but rather that she was able to summon the strength in order to persevere until the good Samaritan and Murphy intervened.

Perhaps in an odd sort of way of looking at it, all the abuse and neglect that she had previously endured during her short existence had bolstered her resolve and given her the strength in order to persevere in the presence of overwhelming odds against her. For example, although an unidentified man residing near Farmway and Oasis roads had been periodically feeding her, she apparently had been abandoned by her previous caretaker shortly after birth.

Secondly, the bow and arrow attack was not the first time that she had been used for target practice. That fact is attested to by at least one BB gun pellet that Murphy found embedded in her side when he examined her.

According to a May 26th e-mail letter received from Brenda Johnson of Simply Cats, which has been caring for Valentine ever since her release from the hospital, an unidentified fourteen-year-old boy was arrested and prosecuted for attacking Valentine but he was not given any jail time. Instead he was ordered to write letters of apology to WestVet and Simply Cats.

Sean Murphy

He therefore got off every bit as lightly as the sixteen-year-old London girl who last year drowned the HMS Belfast's mascot, Kilo, in the Thames. (See Cat Defender posts of November 24, 2008 and November 10, 2008 entitled, respectively, "Kilo's Killer Walks in a Lark but the Joke Is on the Disgraceful English Judicial System" and "London Teenager, Convicted of Killing the HMS Belfast's Kilo, Also Is Unmasked as a Remorseless Liar and Drunkard.")

In his defense, the teenager claimed that he was justified in shooting Valentine because she allegedly had been stalking quail. Notorious serial cat killer James Munn Stevenson of Galveston and his many supporters within bird and wildlife advocacy groups must be beside themselves with joy not only because of Valentine's debilitating injuries but also for being able to attract such an ardent young acolyte to their cause. (See Cat Defender posts of November 22, 2006 and November 20, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Evil Galveston Lover Is Finally Arrested After Having Gunned Down Hundreds of Cats" and "Bird Lovers All Over the World Rejoice as Serial Killer James M. Stevenson Is Rewarded by Galveston Court for Gunning Down Hundreds of Cats.")

There are others, such as Sheri L. Schneider of Simply Cats, who are not the least bit hesitant to point out that the lad's account of events does not corroborate with the facts. "This was not an accident," she told the Idaho Statesman of Boise on January 21st. (See "Idaho Humane Society Offers Reward in Case of Cat Shot with Arrow.") "I think this cat had to have been held down. This person was a great shot to get it right through the eye. Either the cat was held down or tied down, is my personal feeling."

She is furthermore acutely aware of the banality of animal cruelty. "It makes you want to cry, it's so disturbing," she added to KBCI-TV in the article cited supra. "It says a lot about society; it's heartbreaking. The cat was used as target practice and some people think it's okay."

The worst part of the scenario that she describes is not that there are individuals who commit these atrocities, but rather that lawmen, prosecutors, and judges consistently refuse to take them seriously. (See Cat Defender posts of May 14, 2009 and August 7, 2008 entitled, respectively, "Virginia Is for Cat Killers, Not Lovers, Now That Its Legal Establishment Has Sanctioned Donald Curtis Hunt's Drowning of Five Kittens" and "Crime Pays! Having Made Fools of Galveston Prosecutors, Serial Cat Killer James Munn Stevenson Is Now a Hero and Laughing All the Way to the Bank.")

This blatant disregard for the sanctity of animal life is especially egregious in Idaho in that it is only one of five states that categorically refuse to criminalize animal cruelty. Since these types of abuses are therefore treated as misdemeanors, offenders know well beforehand that the maximum sentence they could face, no matter how horrific their crimes, would be half a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Consequently, the abuses continue unabated. After all, it was only a little over a year ago on May 8, 2008 that a dog was bound with duct tape and beaten to death near where Valentine was shot.

Although to its credit the Idaho Humane Society (IHS) offered cash rewards in both cases, its record in protecting animal life is far from stellar. For example, on March 21, 2006 it assisted in the demolition of the Double D Feed and Seed Store in Meridian which cost the lives of at least sixteen feral cats who had been residing there.

"You'd hope that the cats would run away when the work starts, but they'll probably just get under things and hide," executive director Jeff Rosenthal predicted in an interview with the Idaho Statesman on March 20, 2006. (See "Deadline Looms for Feral Cats in Building.") "A lot of animals are likely to be killed. There's no good solution."

Even more shocking, he seems to be a proponent of using demolition as a population control measure. "It would be nice to give people more time to catch the cats, but it's kitten season so every day that goes by there's likely to be more kittens," he added.

An Assailant Shot Out Wilbur's Right Eye with an Air Gun

Comments such as those leave cat-lovers nonplussed because if humane organizations such as the IHS are unwilling to go to the mat in order to protect defenseless animals, it is highly unlikely that the law enforcement community is going to be willing to do so either. (See Cat Defender post of March 31, 2006 entitled "Idaho Humane Society Lends Its Support to the Demolition of a Derelict Seed Store That Claims the Lives of Dozens of Cats.")

Then there is the pathetic example set by Idaho's laughingstock of a governor, C. L. "Butch" Otter. When the animal annihilators at the disreputable United States Fish and Wildlife Service first announced that they were planning to sacrifice the gray wolves of the Rockies and the Great Lakes to hunters Otter appeared on the steps of the state Capitol in Boise to give his full support to the slaughter.

"I'm prepared to bid for the first ticket to shoot a wolf myself," he bellowed to a cheering crowd of three-hundred of his fellow bloodthirsty hunters on January 11, 2007. (See Live Science, January 12, 2007, "Idaho Governor Can't Wait to Kill Wolves.") Being a pro-fetus Roman Catholic as well as a convicted drunk driver, Otter quite obviously is untroubled by the blatant hypocrisy inherent in his staunch opposition to abortion vis-a-vis the malice aforethought that he harbors in his bosom for the wolves.

The maiming of Valentine additionally brings up the disturbing issue of crimes committed against cats by juveniles. In addition to the murder of Kilo in London last year, two fifteen-year-old girls in Santa Rosa, California, torched a black kitten named Adam on June 20, 2007. (See Cat Defender post of July 12, 2007 entitled "Burned Nearly to Death by Laughing Teenage Girls, Two-Month-Old Kitten Named Adam Is Fighting for His Life in Santa Rosa.")

He suffered second and third degree burns over seventy-five per cent of his body but miraculously is alive today. He did, however, lose his tail, a large patch of skin off his back, and his ears were shriveled by the inferno.

Earlier on September 25, 2006, a trio of teens in the Atlantic City suburb of Pleasantville beat up and burned to death a kitten. (See Cat Defender post of October 5, 2006 entitled "New Jersey Teens' Idea of Fun: Beat Up a Defenseless Kitten and Then Burn It to Death.")

In April of 2005, seventeen-year-old Wirimu Karena and eighteen-year-old Sahn Papa of Huntley doused a trio of caged cats with glue and burned them to death. (See Cat Defender post of September 22, 2005 entitled "Two New Zealand Teens Douse Three Caged Cats with Glue and Burn Them to Death.")

College students likewise can be every bit as diabolical in their treatment of cats as their grammar and high school counterparts. (See Cat Defender posts of September 22, 2005 and August 25, 2008 entitled, respectively, "College Students in South Africa Cook a Cat to Death in a Microwave Oven" and "Danish Journalism Students Procure the Corpse of a Murdered Cat and Then Skin, Cook, and Eat It in Order to Promote Their Careers.")

Since courts all over the world are so totally unwilling to punish juveniles, the only solution is to hold their worthless parents liable for their crimes. That is the only way to restore any credibility to judicial systems and to protect the lives of cats.

Society also is culpable for allowing minors to possess bows and arrows in the first place when it is well-known that most of them cannot even be trusted with old-fashioned slingshots. Although accurate statistics are hard to come by, attacks upon cats by archers are increasing.

Kindhearted Oliver and Diane Did Not Hesitate to Adopt Wilbur

For example, a cat named Arwen from New Port Richey, Florida, was shot with a barbed arrow on April 28th of last year and died a few days later. Like Valentine, she too was forced to wander around town for at least four days with the projectile embedded in her stomach before she was discovered. (See Cat Defender post of May 13, 2008 entitled "Just When It Appeared That She Was Going to Make It, Arwen Dies Suddenly after Being Shot in the Abdomen with a Barbed Arrow.")

A three-year-old orange cat named Bill from Vista, California, was brutally hunted down and killed with a bow and arrow by a cat-hating neighbor on April 11, 2006. Thanks to the perseverance of his owner, Janine Bubien, prosecuting attorney Kate Flaherty, and a judge with bon sens, Robert Eugene Brunner was sentenced to three years in jail for this despicable crime.

That marked one of the few occasions when a cat killer actually was sent to prison. (See Cat Defender posts of August 14, 2007 and September 24, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Grieving Owner Seeks Justice for Orange Tabby Named Bill That Was Hunted Down and Savagely Killed with a Bow and Arrow" and "California Man Who Slew His Neighbor's Cat with a Bow and Arrow Is Sentenced to Three-Years in Jail.")

One of the lucky ones ever to have survived a bow and arrow attack was a one-pound tuxedo kitten named Archer from Tarpon Springs, Florida. (See Cat Defender post of August 25, 2005 entitled "Nine-Week-Old Kitten Named Archer Recovering after Being Shot with Crossbow Near Tampa.")

By and large, however, the overwhelming majority of cats shot by archers are ferals and strays who limp away to die prolonged and agonizing deaths that are seldom ever reported. (See Cat Defender post of August 2, 2007 entitled "Ohio Cat Shot in the Leg with an Arrow Is Forced to Endure a Long-Drawn Out and Excruciating Death.")

Pellet guns are another invention of the devil that do not belong in the hands of juveniles under any circumstances. In fact, their manufacture and sale should be interdicted everywhere. (See Cat Defender post of May 7, 2007 entitled "British Punks Are Having a Field Day Maiming Cats with Air Guns but the Peelers Continue to Look the Other Way.")

On May 20th, a seven-month-old black and white kitten named Wilbur from Rancho Santa Fe, California, lost his right eye when he was shot with a pellet gun. He then was placed in a cardboard box and abandoned outside the Helen Woodward Animal Center (HWAC) by an unidentified couple. 

Their dastardly deed was captured on film by a surveillance camera and the San Diego County Sheriff's Department is searching for them. At the very least they are guilty of animal abandonment if not animal cruelty as well.

The good news is that Wilbur not only survived the attack but has been adopted by a couple known only as Oliver and Diane from the University Heights section of San Diego. 

Valentine Lost Her Eyesight and Hearing on Her Left Side but Lives

"We received dozens of calls from families interested in Wilbur's condition and the possibility of adopting him," the HWAC's John Van Zante told Channel 6-TV of San Diego on May 29th. (See "Wilbur the One-Eyed Wonder Cat Gets a New Home.") "When he became available for adoption he was snatched up almost immediately..."

Like bows and arrows and pellet guns, fireworks also are frequently employed in order to injure cats, dogs, and wildlife. (See Cat Defender posts of November 30, 2006 and July 11, 2005 entitled, respectively, "Yobs Celebrating Guy Fawkes Day Kill Twelve-Year-Old Cat Named Tigger with Fireworks; Cat Named Sid Is Severely Burned" and "Thirty Dogs Killed Fleeing Fireworks in Tucson.")

In one of the most abominable crimes ever perpetrated against a cat, someone outside a watering hole in Arklow stuffed a firecracker inside the left ear of a cat named Sparkles last October 29th and lit the fuse. Sparkles held on for as long as she could but ultimately succumbed to her injuries in early December. (See Cat Defender posts of November 20, 2008 and January 12, 2009 entitled, respectively, "Trusting Domestic Cat Has Her Left Ear Blown Off with a Firecracker by Cretins Outside an Irish Bar" and "Disoriented and Racked with Excruciating Pain, Seizures, and Infections, Sparkles Loses Her Long Struggle to Live.")

Individuals who commit these types of crimes should be promptly removed from society and permanently locked up regardless of their age. No good will ever accrue to either the animals or society at large so long as the legal establishment continues to look the other way and refuses to punish animal abusers.

When the news first broke detailing how horribly Valentine had been violated, there was an outpouring of concern for her amongst residents of Treasure Valley and this led Simply Cats to believe that she would be adopted as soon as she was well enough to leave the hospital. Malheureusement, that has not proven to be the case.

Part of the difficulty stems from the fact that she was later diagnosed to be suffering from the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV) and therefore requires a home where she would be either the only cat or one wherein all the other resident felines also suffer from the disease. Despite that impediment, the unwillingness of residents of Boise to give her a loving home is another black mark against the community.

That is especially true not only in light of Oliver and Diane's prompt decision to adopt Wilbur, but also in the willingness of Sue Watts of Birmingham and Rose and Chris Rasmussen of suburban London to go to such great lengths and exorbitant expense in order to adopt American cats and return them to England. (See Cat Defender posts of September 4, 2008 and May 28, 2009 entitled, respectively, "Tinkerbelle Is Freed from Death Row and Flown to Safety in England Capping Off a Storybook Ending to Her Travails in Florida" and "Sparky, the Vivacious Mascot of a Michigan Shelter, Is Adopted by an English Couple and Flown to His New Home Outside London.")

Despite this latest setback, Valentine is holding her own. "Valentine is doing quite well," Schneider told KBCI-TV on May 20th. (See "Cat Still Struggling to Find Home.") "She loves attention and having her picture taken." (See photo directly above of her at play.)

The good part of the situation is that Simply Cats is not about to either turn her out on the street or, tant pis, kill her. Au contraire, the organization has vowed to stand by her no matter how long it takes in order to find her a permanent home.

Anyone interested in adopting Valentine is therefore encouraged to contact Simply Cats at either (208) 343-7177 or by e-mail at sheri@simplycats.org.

Photos: KBCI-TV (Valentine with arrow), WestVet (Murphy), Channel 6-TV (Wilbur by himself and with his new guardians), and Simply Cats (Valentine at play).