Noble and Courageous Harvey Who So Desperately Wanted to Go on Living Is Instead Unforgivably Betrayed and Killed Off by His Foster Mother and Yorkshire Cat Rescue

Harvey's Owner Died in December of 2016...

"Harvey was put to sleep after outliving his prognosis by two and a half years."

-- Yorkshire Cat Rescue 

From the very beginning there always was one more story about Harvey just waiting to be written and now, sadly, the time has come to put stylo to papier.  It thus was with a heavy heart and a tear in the eye that it recently was learned that Yorkshire Cat Rescue (YCR) in Keighley, West Yorkshire, had made good on its prior pledge to kill him off.

"It was very peaceful," the charity wrote in a September 14th e-mail. "He went being cuddled by his foster person (Sofia) at their home." 

While that possibly could have been a more or less accurate account of what transpired, there nonetheless exists a substantial body of evidence that these so-called euthanizations are anything but peaceful, painless, and humane. (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.") 

Much more pertinently, it boggles the mind how that anyone who truly loved a cat could so betray its confidence in such an underhanded and calculating manner as by first gathering it up in her lap and then cuddling it while a handsomely paid mercenary from the corrupt as hell and utterly despicable veterinary medical profession injected poisons into its body. The entire process from start to finish is simply ghastly and should have been outlawed eons ago.

As for when that dastardly deed took place, that remains one of YCR's most closely guarded secrets. "Harvey was put to sleep after outliving his prognosis by two and a half years," is the only clue that the charity offered to that conundrum in an undated article entitled "Handsome Harvey" that was posted in late September on its web site under the heading "Our Rainbow Bridge Cats."

Since then, however, both the article and the section itself have been deleted. Thus, in two fell swoops YCR has not only obliterated Harvey but his memory to boot.

Given that he was first suspected of suffering from a small benign brain tumor during the summer of 2017, it would not be altogether unreasonable to conclude that he was killed off at the close of 2019. Furthermore, given the proclivity of many nominal Christians to kill off their cats on Boxing Day, that most likely was when YCR had him whacked. 

Although for true believers murdering a cat on the birthday of their lord and savior would be an unthinkable act of sacrilege, they do not see anything at all wrong with doing likewise on the following day. Whereas genocide is justifiably roundly condemned, it is nonetheless quite possible that the Romans were on to something when they were feeding Christians to the lions.

"Harvey was a very determined puss and he long outlived his prognosis," YCR wrote in the article cited supra. "Sadly the time came where (sic) he could no longer battle on, as his legs started to buckle due to the tumor and the vets also found lumps on his body."

Even if YCR's claims should in fact be true, they hardly constitute a valid justification for murdering him. Au contraire, upon examination they amount to little more than manufactured excuses for getting rid of him.

...and He Wound Up Frightened and Confused at YCR

First of all, his ambulatory woes in all probability could have been treated. Besides, all sorts of prosthetic devices are nowadays available for cats that have difficulties walking.

Secondly, although YCR has not disclosed either the number or nature of the lumps found on his body, they in all likelihood also could have been managed even if they had turned out to have been cancerous. Thirdly, even the charity itself had previously acknowledged on no less than several occasions that its veterinarian had been unable to locate the alleged brain tumor.

It accordingly is by no means a foregone conclusion that he was indeed suffering from cancer and that the disease had metastasized. Even more revealing, YCR has not indicated that he was in any pain or that the quality of life that he had been enjoying had suddenly spiralled downward.

On the contrary, it and its sawbones just assumed that his agitation, wobbly gait, and assumed forgetfulness were attributable to the presence of a tumor. Given that he was all of thirteen years old when that unsupported diagnosis was first put forward, it would seem to be every bit as probable that he was simply exhibiting the telltale signs of old age.

Many individuals and organizations steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the obvious but cats age just like humans. The only real difference is that with the latter the ailments associated with old age are treated and the sufferers are permitted to go on living whereas in the case of the former they are designated as capital offenses and the patients promptly spirited off to the gallows. 

Even though that line of reasoning is, admittedly, supposition, it in no way detracts from the salient observation that YCR has not put forward a valid reason for having killed Harvey. On the other side of the ledger, there are mountains and mountains of anecdotal evidence that strongly suggest that laziness and cheapness are the prime movers behind the alarming proclivity of owners, shelters, and veterinarians to dispatch to the devil cats that are otherwise treatable and, more importantly, have an inalienable right to go on living. There additionally is good money not only to be saved but pocketed as well through the wholesale commission of such odious crimes against the species.

As if all of that were not damning enough, most people in this world are such inveterate liars that absolutely nothing that they have to say about anything can be taken at face value and that most definitely includes the blatant falsehoods that they concoct in order to justify killing cats. (See Cat Defender posts of February 9, 2006, September 28, 2011, October 23, 2012,  July 17, 2013, August 26, 2015, February 17, 2016, September 15, 2017, May 7, 2018, and October 21, 2018 entitled, respectively, "A Newspaper Cat Named Tripod Is Killed Off by the Journalists That He Befriended in Vermont," "Marvin Is Betrayed, Abducted, and Murdered by a Journalist and a Shelter Who Preposterously Maintain That They Were Doing Him a Favor," "A Supposedly No-Kill Operation in Marblehead Betrays Sally and Snuffs Out Her Life Instead of Providing Her with a Home and Veterinary Care," "Not Satisfied with Merely Whacking Meiko, Garrison Keillor Struts on Stage in Order to Shed a Bucketful of Crocodile Tears and to Denigrate the Entire Species," "A Myriad of Cruel and Unforgivable Abandonments, a Chinese Puzzle, and Finally the Handing Down and Carrying Out of a Death Sentence Spell the End of Long-Suffering and Peripatetic Tigger," "Cats Protection Races to Alfie's Side after His Owner Dies and He Winds Up on the Street, Swears It Is Going to Help Him, and Then Turns Around and Has Him Whacked," "King Loui I's Days of Roaming the Perilous Streets of Aachen Come to a Sad End after He Is Diagnosed with Inoperable Throat Cancer," "The English Authorities Steal, Kill, and Incinerate Nash Van Drake and in the Aftermath Lie Their Ugly Little Faces Off as to Their Reasons for Committing Such a Dastardly Deed," and "Diabolically Mutilated in a Back Alley Sterilization, Billy Is Promised Help by Blackpool Cats in Care Who, Predictably, Turn Right Around and Pull the Rug Out from Underneath Him.")

Even those felines that have achieved international acclaim are not any safer than their lesser known counterparts from the machinations of their owners once they become ill, injured, and simply old. Even more appalling, their cold-blooded murders never seem to elicit so much as a whimper from their legions of fans and supporters. (See Cat Defender posts of November 7, 2006, October 27, 2008,  March 29, 2012, October 18, 2014, January 15, 2015, May 28, 2015, October 31, 2015, April 24, 2019, and March 31, 2020 entitled, respectively, "After Nineteen Years of Service and Companionship, the Ingrates at an Iowa Library Murder Dewey Readmore Books," "Loved and Admired All Around the World, Feline Heroine Scarlett Is Killed Off by Her Owner after She Becomes Ill," "Too Cheap and Lazy to Care for Him During His Final Days, Betty Currie Has Socks Killed Off and His Corpse Burned," "Hamish McHamish's Derelict Owner Reenters His Life after Fourteen Years of Abject Neglect only to Have Him Killed Off after He Contracts a Preeminently Treatable Common Cold," "Lewis, Ann Arbor's Much Celebrated Garden Shop Cat, Departs This World Under Highly Suspicious Circumstances," "Abandoned, Homeless on the Street, Expelled by the Ingrates at Manchester International Airport, and Finally Whacked by Her Last Guardian, So Ran the Course of Ollie's Sad and Turbulent Life," "Tama Is Finally Able to Escape the Merciless Clutches of Her Simon Legree Overlords at the Wakayama Electric Railway but Doing So Has Cost Her Everything That She Ever Had, Including Her Life," "The Life, Times, and Tragic Demise of a Supermarket Cat: Brutus of Morrisons, 2009-2017," and "Stoic Little CC May Have Graced This Vale of Tears for Only Eighteen Brief Years but the Moral Conundrum That Surrounds the Cloning of Cats Lives on after Her.")

There also cannot be any denying that Harvey was put under tremendous emotional and mental distress as the result of having his world abruptly turned upside-down on him. That tumultuous event occurred in December of 2016 when his unidentified guardian died suddenly and that person's relatives, not wanting any part of him, dumped him at YCR.

He thus was deprived of his guardian, home, and freedom in one outrageous twist of fate. To make matters worse, a shelter is hardly a fitting environment for any cat and that goes doubly for an elderly one. (See The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 11, 2011, "Shelter Shock. Cats Can Get Sick from Stress. One Proposed Remedy? Keep Them Out.")

He Found Life at the Shelter Unbearable...

In particular, he first had to adjust not only to the loss of his freedom but also to living in the cramped confines of a pen. On top of that, he had to learn to deal with other cats and all sorts of loud and obnoxious humans.

"Older cats who lose their owners sometimes find it harder than youngsters to come out of their shells at the center," Sara Atkinson of YCR said in an August 14, 2017 press release. (See "Twice Returned Cat Seeks Loving Home.") "They just don't feel at home in a pen, and really should be making themselves comfortable on a sofa, with someone who appreciates the benefits of adopting an older cat."

Absolutely nothing has been made public concerning Harvey's prior life but his personality and behavior tend to indicate that he in all likelihood had a long-term guardian who loved him dearly. Regrettably, that individual through either circumstances or neglect failed to make any provisions for his continued care and that oversight pretty much sealed his fate.

Shortly after his arrival at YCR, the charity found him a home but he was quickly returned because he allegedly could not get along with the other cats in the home. That in turn leads to the more than likely conclusion that he always had lived in a home where he was the only resident feline. It also is conceivable that he could have been separated from his mother before she had had an opportunity in order to properly socialize him on how to get along with his siblings and other cats. 

Soon thereafter in early 2017 he was given to an unidentified woman in Leeds, thirty-three kilometers southeast of Keighley, but that arrangement also failed when she allegedly became ill. So, it was back to the shelter for Harvey and his third stay within just a few months.

It thus was during his third internment that he was diagnosed with probably suffering from a small benign brain tumor. "Harvey's brain tumor shouldn't affect how long he has left to live," YCR's Samantha Davies opined in the press release cited supra. "It just means he can get a little confused at times. It looks like he is wondering why he is finding it so much harder to live at the shelter than all the young cats around him."

She then went on to define the ideal home for him. "We feel he might be a little too vulnerable to be roaming the streets and fields on his own," she pointed out. "So we'd love to find him a home with a sofa and enclosed garden, because he does love the outdoors, and a cat his age should be able to enjoy life -- even if he sometimes forgets where he is."

She concluded by coining the sobriquet that not only defined Harvey's past life but was destined to haunt his days ahead as well.  "But he really is completely lovely -- just so desperately unlucky," she said. (See Cat Defender post of August 31, 2017 entitled "With His Previous Owner Long Dead and Nobody Seemingly Willing to Give Him a Second Chance at Life, Old and Ailing Harvey Has Been Sentenced to Rot at a Shelter in Yorkshire.")  

Harvey's third incarceration at YCR thus proved to have been a lengthy one that extended throughout the remainder of the spring of 2017, the summer months, and into the autumn that followed. Just about at its wit's end as to what to do with him, the charity in desperation placed him in foster care in November.

...and Multiple Failed Adoptions Only Worsened His Distress

"As you know Harvey has been with us for quite some time but he has now found a loving permanent fosterer and it looks like he has decided to stay there and let her look after him and his wonkiness," YCR announced November 7, 2017 on its Facebook page.

Even though the charity had generously consented to pick up the tab for not only his continued veterinary care but also to buy his food as well, the unidentified woman threw in the towel on him after only three months and it was back to YCR for him and his fourth imprisonment in less than a year. For whatever it is worth, the woman later claimed that she had given up on him because he could not get along with her other pets.

Once Harvey's advanced years, his prior history and, above all, the traumatic loss of his owner, home, and freedom are taken into consideration, it is easy to understand why that he unable to adjust to life in any of the three homes that he was placed. Plus, no one at YCR has bothered to even so much as to speculate upon the myriad of abuses, deprivations, and horrors that he was subjected to at the hands of his trio of unidentified guardians and their cats and dogs. More than likely he was a guileless victim who got blamed for almost anything that went wrong simply because he was an outsider and a newcomer.

Whereas he was richly deserving of compassion and understanding, all that he ever received from YCR was scorn and blame. That is especially appalling in that it was precisely his harshest critics who were responsible for placing him in situations that they surely must have known well beforehand would not work out.

"I then had the most amazing foster mum but I of course had to be trouble and make sure she knew that I do not share my human with other pets," YCR, speaking for Harvey, wrote February 10, 2018 on Facebook. "So I am back here looking for a new home."

YCR's high praise for his foster mother and the other two women who earlier had adopted and subsequently returned him also seems to be misplaced. First of all, taking in a cat is a serious matter that requires a lifetime commitment.

Secondly, taking on such an obligation requires a willingness on the part of both adopters and fosterers to make adjustments in their domestic life, a willingness to work through any difficulties that may arise and, above all, some knowledge and appreciation of cats.

Therefore, considering how traumatic it is for a cat to be bandied about between various homes and shelters, giving up on one and returning it is not really a viable option. C'est-à-dire, the care of a cat should never be allowed to devolve into a silly parlor game that is acted out for the benefit of only the bourgeoisie and shelters.

Mistreating a cat in such a cavalier fashion also can have serious repercussions. "When I came back here I was all shouty and confused," YCR, once again speaking for Harvey, wrote February 10, 2018 on Facebook. "I was a bit all over the place and not at all the cuddly Harvey they (staff at the shelter) remembered from all those months ago."

His agitation, wobbly gait, forgetfulness, and loud meowing also had worsened and that in turn leads to the conclusion that the previous three month that he had spent in foster care could not possibly have been anything other than pure hell. Although it is not known if YCR even bothered to check on Harvey's health by making unannounced, surprise visits to where he was staying, such a precaution would seem to have been warranted given his prior failed adoptions.

Harvey Resting on February 19, 2019

So, it was back to square one for YCR and its attempt to find a home for Harvey. "As you know Harvey is back with us and we are struggling to find him a suitable home due to him being an old boy with...hmmm lots of character," YCR wrote February 16, 2018 on Facebook. "Everyone at the center love him dearly but this is not the best place for a wobbly oldie who does not like other cats." 

After horribly botching the job on three successive occasions, YCR finally figured out exactly what type of home that he required. "He is one of a kind and utterly lovely," the charity wrote February 16, 2018 on Facebook. "He is just quite specific about his demands -- no other pets, no noisy kids, all attention and love on him. That's not a bad deal, is it?" (See Cat Defender post of March 12, 2018 entitled "Much Like a Nightmare That Stubbornly Refuses to End, Harvey Continues to Be Shuttled from One Home to Another at the Expense of His Health and Well-Being.")

It took an awfully long time in coming but Harvey's ship finally arrived on February 18, 2018 when YCR placed him in foster care with a woman named Sofia who, presumably, resides somewhere in the Keighley area. "We are happy to say that he has found a permanent fosterer and a retirement home," the shelter proudly announced February 26, 2018 on Facebook.

As was the case with his previous foster mother, YCR agreed to pay for both his food and veterinary care. Perhaps by that time it had run out of alternatives but that cannot take away from the salient fact that there are serious concerns with such arrangements.

First of all, it is difficult to understand how that anyone who was willing to become a permanent fosterer would not at the same time be willing to go whole hog and simply adopt the cat. Secondly, while it is completely understandable that almost any would-be adopter would need financial assistance in order to cover the exorbitant fees that bloodsucking veterinarians charge nowadays, the same most definitely cannot be said for buying food for a cat.

Much more to the point, there is something awfully suspicious about anyone who is too cheap to buy food for her cat. Au contraire, doting owners take a good deal of pride in selecting the very best foods and treats for their beloved companions. Besides, coming home to a sumptuous meal with one's cats after a long day in the salt mines is one of life's greatest pleasures.

Harvey pretty much faded from public view after going into foster care with Sofia and almost nothing more was heard from him. The one notable exception came a year later.

"Hello! I' Harvey! Some of you may remember me," YCR, speaking for him, announced February 19, 2019 on Facebook. "I'm an old boy who had to go into long-term foster care due to a benign brain tumor and yesterday was the one-year mark when I went to stay with my new mommy."

Unbelievably, even that momentous accomplishment was forced into playing second fiddle to Sofia's rank selfishness and runaway egotism. "Not only is it one year since being in my new home, but it's also my mommy's birthday today," YCR continued in the same Facebook article. "Please join me in meowing a huge Happy Birthday to her and say thank you, as without her, I couldn't spend the rest of the time I have left feeling loved and safe."

While Sofia celebrated her birthday with Merlot, Harvey was forced to make do with chicken. He was not complaining, however. "Pure bliss," were the words that YCR put into his mouth on that occasion and, ironically, they turned out to have been the last ones that were ever heard from him.

The failure of YCR to include any mention of a second anniversary celebration on its Facebook page this past February 18th is further evidence that by then Harvey was long dead. Besides, YCR had been hinting at killing him off from as far back as February of 2019. (See Cat Defender post of July 29, 2019 entitled "Repeatedly Shunned, Maligned, and Bandied About from One Place to Another, Harvey Is Now Fighting the Most Important Battle of His Life.")

Harvey on Sofia's Couch During His Final Days on This Earth

"We received monthly bulletins from Sofia about Harvey with tails (sic) of him talking and shouting loudly at her, his adventures, and how they celebrated birthdays and special milestones together," is all that YCR had to say about his last months on this earth in the September of 2020 article entitled "Handsome Harvey."

Owing to the paucity of the data available, it is difficult to speculate on how that Harvey fared under Sofia's care and especially during the last months of his life. The only thing known for certain is that he most assuredly did not look like he was knocking on death's door in a photograph that was taken of him and which accompanied the now deleted article; on the contrary, he looked to be every bit as healthy as a horse as he lounged on, presumably, Sofia's couch.

"Harvey was a real character and we know he will have made such a difference in Sofia's life, as she did to his," is how that YCR chose to eulogize him in "Handsome Harvey."

Self-serving palaver such as that misses the point in that it is indisputable that Harvey was a fighter who desperately wanted to go on living. He may have been frightened, alienated, lonely, confused, and suffering from periodic bouts of panic attacks but he definitely was not a quitter.

He likewise may have been a demanding and high-maintenance cat but neither of those offenses should have been treated as capital offenses. YCR had gone this far with him and it should have gone the final mile as well.

What he needed and deserved was love, security, stability, understanding and, above all, an abiding respect for his right to live. Instead, YCR and Sofia mocked and derided him, made jokes about his suffering behind his back, and falsely accused him of a thousand transgressions of which he was totally innocent. Finally, when they tired of that cruel game, they took away his precious life from him.

"We never give up on any cat who needs us," the charity boldly declares on its web site but considering what it did to Harvey it should at the very least be hauled into court and prosecuted for false advertising. The only thing positive that can be said about YCR's performance is that it gave Harvey two and one-half years of additional life and that is a considerably more than he would have received from almost any other feline rescue group in the world and for that it should be commended.   

He is now buried in Sofia's garden next to a magnolia tree and a red lily has been planted on his grave. If against all odds the spirit does indeed live on, it is difficult to believe however that the grave has afforded him very much in the way of peace.

To have been so horribly mistreated and maligned during the final three years of his life was horrific enough in its own right but to have been so outrageously betrayed and murdered by those that he had come to trust is not something that a cat ever truly gets over or forgets. Almost as bad, his betrayers and killers have gotten away scot-free with their heinous crime and sans doute are plotting additional such offenses against other totally innocent cats at this very moment.

In conclusion, a world that does not have either the space or the compassion for a cat like Harvey does not have much to commend itself. YCR and Sofia can pat themselves on the back and claim that he was only "put to sleep" and few will object to their interpretation of events, but the image of him, frightened, confused, and lonely, but still wanting nothing more than to go on living but instead being betrayed and murdered is too indelibly etched in the conscience to ever be erased by their lies.

Other than that, he will be remembered for his prolonged suffering and indomitable will to live. It is just too bad that he, like all cats, was not any match for the perfidy that lurks in the human heart. It is almost superfluous to add but he is going to be profoundly missed.

Photos: Yorkshire Cat Rescue.