Beaten and Entombed Above Ground for Several Weeks, a Forever Nameless Cat from Colchester Is Finished Off by the RSPCA which Refuses to Even Investigate Her Death

The Beaten and Bloodied, but Still Attractive, Colchester Cat

"It looks like someone had cared about her once, as she was wearing a pink collar with three bells on it, and quite a bit of sparkly bling."
-- Samantha Garvey of the RSPCA

Scarcely so much as a fleeting second is able to tick off of the clock of time without a cat somewhere being either horribly abused or killed outright. Lamentably, the overwhelming majority of these dastardly deeds never see the light of day and even those that do are quickly forgotten by a complacent public.

Ever so often a case of feline cruelty is uncovered that is so abominable that it is all but impossible to get it out of mind and the abuse that was meted out  to a forever nameless gray and white female of undetermined age from Colchester, eighty-two kilometers northeast of London in Essex, most definitely fits into that category. The details are rather sketchy but as best it could be determined somewhere around the beginning of July she was severely beaten about the face by an assailant using either some type of blunt object or perhaps just his fists.

Although no specifics of the damage inflicted upon her by the assailant have been publicly disclosed, the bruised and bloodied area around her nose and eye on the left side of her face attest to the severity of the attack. It additionally is entirely conceivable that she could have sustained injuries to other parts of her body, and even internally as well, that are not visible in the photographs that later were taken of her.

Her attacker then locked her up inside a blue pet carrier and, presumably, drove her to a location on Easthorpe Road where he stopped and tossed her into a pile of rubbish. He then drove away supremely confident not only that he had fixed her little red wagon once and for all time but that she was going to die a slow and agonizing death to boot.

It was a well-thought-out plan that under most circumstances would have come off like clockwork and absolutely no one would have been any the wiser that she once had lived, let alone how that she had died. Events do not always turn out as anticipated even for diabolical cat-haters, however, in that although the cat was battered and bruised, sans food and water, and bedeviled by both insects and the elements, she somehow persevered in her above-ground tomb for the next two to three weeks until an unidentified motorist stopped nearby in order to take some snaps and accidentally overheard her faint cries for help.

The photographer eventually spied her cage lying in the middle of a cluster of nettles, bushes, and assorted trash. Whatever slim hope of deliverance that she may have briefly entertained quickly evaporated into the warm July air when that individual callously opted to deliver her up on a silver platter to the knackers at RSPCA as opposed to choosing the far more sensible and compassionate alternative of rushing her to a veterinarian and paying for her emergency care.

That is precisely what Hannelore and Erich B. of München so graciously did for a cat named Mausi that they courageously had rescued from the Autobahn on March 23, 2012. Furthermore, they did not even flinch when the Germeringer Tierklinik in Fürstenfeldbruck stuck them with a bill for €197. (See Cat Defender post of March 16, 2013 entitled "Mausi Is Saved from a Potentially Violent Death on the Fast and Furious Autobahn Thanks to the Dramatic Intervention of a Münchner Couple.")

"She was emaciated beyond belief and looked as if she had been hit around the face before being thrown out of the window," the charity's Samantha Garvey, who came and collected the cat, told the Express of London on July 22nd. (See "Worst Case of Animal Cruelty? Beaten and Infested with Maggots, Cat Left to Die in Rubbish.") "She was also crawling with maggots."

The RSPCA then, predictably, did what it does best. "Sadly, there was nothing which could be done to save this poor cat, she was in such a bad state," Garvey declared. "We took her straight to a vet who said she had to be put to sleep to prevent further suffering."

C'est-à-dire, this utter laughingstock of an animal protection group was too lazy, cheap, and cold-hearted to even bother with attempting to save her life. (See Daily Mail articles of December 30, 2012 and November 6, 2014 entitled, respectively, "Revealed: RSPCA Destroys Half of the Animals That It Rescues -- Yet Thousands Are Completely Healthy" and "RSPCA Forced to Apologize for Wrongly Putting Down Cat Belonging to Family It Accused of Cruelty in Bungled Prosecution," plus Cat Defender posts of June 5, 2007 and October 23, 2010 entitled, respectively, "RSPCA's Unlawful Seizure and Senseless Killing of Mork Leaves His Sister, Mindy, Brokenhearted and His Caretakers Devastated" and "RSPCA Steals and Executes Nightshift Who Was His Elderly Caretaker's Last Surviving Link to Her Dead Husband.")

That decision was followed, as per usual, by a proverbial flood of self-serving crocodile tears carefully designed to pull the wool over the eyes of the gullible. "I could barely believe this cat was still alive she was in such a terrible state," Garvey laid it on with a trowel to the Express. "I can honestly say it was one of the most heart-wrenching sights I have ever seen."

Considering all the pain and unrelenting torment that the female had been put through and yet somehow had endured for weeks on end, it seems odd that the unidentified sawbones who gave her a quick once-over before pronouncing sentencing would declare that she was unable to withstand a little bit more suffering, especially if it meant sparing her life. The mere fact that she still was able to meow is a pretty strong indication that she wanted to go on living.

In hindsight it seems quite obvious that neither the RSPCA nor its designated assassin had the slightest bit of interest in treating her. Rather, they put their diseased, shekel-counting gourds together and conspired to rob her of the one thing that she had left in this world.

That is why it is insane for anyone to rat out a cat to the authorities regardless of whether they be rescue groups, veterinarians, Animal Control officers, or the police. Very few of them have any regard whatsoever for the sanctity of feline lives; au contraire, they function primarily as feline disposal services.

Garvey also is lying through her rotten teeth when she claims that the cat was beyond all mortal assistance. Actually, there was quite a bit that could have been done for her but that would have required she and her colleagues to stop thinking and behaving like PETA and instead to commit the time, labor, and money that would have been necessary in order to have saved her life.

Secondly, Garvey and her veterinarian would have had to quickly gotten over their revulsion at the sight of the maggots. They are, after all, only the larvae of houseflies.

The first step in getting rid of the maggots would have been to thoroughly cleanse the cat's wounds and bruises with warm water and soap. An application of hydrogen peroxide would have killed many of those that had burrowed deep into the cat's injuries and a dusting of corn starch would have smothered those that had stubbornly remained on the surface. Vinegar, mint oil, eucalyptus, bay leaves, Drano®, Formula 409®, and various pet shampoos also have proven effective in getting rid of the parasites.

Finally, pieces of gauze soaked in turpentine should have been applied to each of the cat's injuries in order to have drawn out those maggots that the soap, hot water, and hydrogen peroxide had failed to kill. These bandages should have been left in situ for up to an hour with a second round of them applied thereafter until all the maggots were completely removed.

The dead maggots then should have been wiped away with either a cloth or a pair of tweezers. (See Jennifer Hudock, "How to Kill Maggots in an Open Wound" at www.eHow.com.)

Once the cat's injuries had been deemed to be free of maggots, they should have been cleaned, antibiotics administered, and then properly dressed. All the while this way taking place, the cat simultaneously should have been placed on an intravenous drip so as to as quickly as possible restore valuable, life-giving fluids to her severely emaciated body. If her body temperature had plummeted, she could have been placed on a heating pad in order to have brought it back up to normal.

Whereas there is by no means any guarantee that these measures would have been successful, it is totally inexcusable for the RSPCA not to have given them a try. Not only did the cat deserve as much but if the RSPCA had been successful in saving her life it could have taken pride in having thwarted the evil designs of yet still another cat killer.

Even though the question of whether she could have been saved remains unresolved, there can be little doubt that she, at least at one time, did have an owner. "It looks like someone had cared about her once, as she was wearing a pink collar with three bells on it, and quite a bit of sparkly bling," Garvey disclosed to the Express.

The next logical question accordingly concerns the whereabouts and behavior of her former owner. For its part, the Express theorizes that her owner abandoned her because either he or she was unwilling to pay for the treatment of her head injuries.

The Cat's Above Ground Tomb Lies on Its Side in the Nettles and Rubbish

While there can be no denying that many owners are too cheap and uncaring to pay for the veterinary care of an injured cat, it also is true that most practitioners have priced their services far beyond the financial reach of the poor and working class. There used to be a time when some veterinarians would allow owners to pay part of their bills upfront and the remainder in installments but those days have gone with the wind.

Nowadays, they demand to be paid in full beforehand otherwise they will not treat either an injured or a sick cat. Appealing to their sense of compassion and love of animals is likewise a total waste of time because these cold-blooded mercenaries do not even know the meaning of the former and measure the latter solely in terns of dollars and cents.

Besides, in this case cheapness fails to explain the bruises to the cat's face. They possibly could have been incurred when her cage was tossed into the rubble but that does not appear likely.

It is conceivable that the cat's owner first beat her but then, belatedly realizing just how much he detested her, decided that killing her was not sufficient and accordingly elected to inflict as much suffering as possible upon her by burying her alive above ground. Owners are, after all, capable of committing some simply atrocious crimes against cats.

For instance, some of them think absolutely nothing about either intentionally or unintentionally burying them alive. (See Cat Defender posts of September 11, 2010 and June 24, 2013 entitled, respectively, "Swedish Couple Out Gathering Mushrooms Unearths a Trio of Four-Week-Old Kittens Buried Alive in the Woods" and "Buried Long Before Her Time, Muffin Is Freed from the Crypt by Her Devoted Six-Year-Old Snuggling Partner.")

Others dispose of cats that they have grown tired of by simply tossing them in the trash. ( See Cat Defender posts of October 14, 2011, October 3, 2009, February 24, 2010, February 25, 2010, May 4, 2010, and August 23, 2007 entitled, respectively, "Chucked Out in the Trash, Tabitha Winds Up in an Oxygen Chamber with Four Broken Ribs, an Injured Lung, and Pneumonia," "Deliberately Entombed Inside a Canvas Bag for Six Days, Duff Is Saved by a Pair of Alert Maintenance Workers at an Apartment Complex in Spokane," "Sealed Up in a Backpack Inside a Plastic Bag and Then Tossed in the Trash, Titch Is Rescued by a Passerby in Essex," "Bess Twice Survives Attempts Made on Her Life Before Landing on All Four Paws at a Pub in Lincolnshire," "Picked Up by a Garbage Truck Driver and Dumped with the Remainder of the Trash, Alfie Narrowly Misses Being Recycled," and "An Alert Scrap Metal Worker Discovers a Pretty Penny Hidden in a Mound of Rubble.")

All things considered, the cat owning fraternity more often than not comes off as smelling more like a rotten potato than a rose. Nevertheless, it is possible that it was not the cat's owner who was responsible for the hideous abuse inflicted upon her.

The person who did all of those terrible things to her quite obviously not only wanted her dead but to inflict as much punishment upon her as possible in the process and such antipathy is usually found only in the diseased souls of ornithologists, wildlife biologists, and gardeners. The mere fact that the cat was wearing a collar with bells on it is one indication that her owner may have attempted to dissuade her from chasing birds and other small animals.

Also, the fact that she was found in a pet carrier does not necessarily mean that she was put in it and dumped by her owner. For instance, anyone with a few bob in his pocket could have purchased one, baited it with fish, and illegally trapped her.

That is precisely what cat-hating gardener Patrick Doyle of Fields Road in the village of Wootton in southwest Bedford, Bedfordshire, did to a nameless black cat on June 16, 2011. (See Cat Defender post of March 13, 2012 entitled "The Sick Wife Defense Works Like a Charm for Cunning Patrick Doyle after He Traps a Cat and Then Shoots It with an Air Rifle while Still in Its Cage.")

That explanation however in no way accounts for the failure of the cat's owner to come forward and claim her remains. It therefore is conceivable that the owner relocated elsewhere and left the cat behind to fend for herself.

The RSPCA has assumed all along that the cat's emaciation was due solely to its being confined inside the cage for several weeks but that may not necessarily have been the case. Specifically, the cat already could have been on the verge of starvation as the result of living on the street for an extended period of time.

Almost as inexcusable as its refusal to treat the cat, the RSPCA's so far has been unwilling to seriously investigate these heinous acts of cruelty. First of all, the charity should have meticulously examined the injuries sustained by the cat in order to determine their extent and how that they were inflicted.

Secondly, it should have dusted the pet carrier and the cat's collar for fingerprints. Thirdly, the cat's fur as well as the inside of her cage should have been combed for forensic evidence.

Fourthly, the operators of shelters and veterinarians in Essex should have been interviewed and shown photographs of the cat. Fifthly, the surrounding neighborhoods should have been canvassed in that it is entirely conceivable that someone in the area either had past dealings with the cat or knows something about her.

While passing motorists certainly could not have overheard the cat crying for help, it does seem rather odd that apparently not a single pedestrian noticed its plight, especially given that it was marooned beside the road for so very long. Sixthly, the charity should have checked for an implanted microchip.

All of those avenues of inquiry would have been, admittedly, long shots, but the RSPCA is never going to solve a single case of cruelty toward cats unless it first is able to summon the willingness to at least try and in order to do that it must start somewhere. Furthermore, appealing to the public to do its job for it seldom has produced results in the past and therefore is unlikely to do so in this case.

So, on and on goes the never-ending cycle of violence and official complicity. Private individuals continue to abuse and kill cats with impunity while groups such as the RSPCA and the veterinary medical profession, whose job it is supposedly to safeguard their lives, not only do absolutely nothing in order to put an end to these heinous acts of cruelty but actually join in the killing themselves.

As a consequence, all that the victims' survivors ever receive from both groups are disingenuous declarations of self-righteous moral indignation and a steady stream of incessant appeals for more money coupled with higher veterinary bill. Not surprisingly, there is good money in both rackets, but that is all.

Photos: the Herts and Essex Observer of Bishop's Stortford.