Relegated to the Dustbin of History and All but Forgotten by the Grossly Negligent Annapolis Maritime Museum, Miss Pearl's Beautiful Soul Continues to Cry Out from the Grave for Justice

Miss Pearl Never Knew of the Hidden Dangers That Lurked at the Museum

"They (BARCS) said she wasn't adoptable but she just loved people and was really well-known in the community."

-- Alice Estrada of the Annapolis Maritime Museum

No matter how hard that they try, how peace-loving and law-abiding that they may be, or how beautiful, loving, faithful, and noble that they are, cats seldom come out on top in this world. Sooner of later they either become victims of their owners' perfidy or they meet with violent deaths at the hands of one of their myriad of mortal enemies.

So, too, was it with a long-suffering and nakedly exploited gray and white female of undetermined age named Miss Pearl. Where and when it all began for her is not known, only that she was found abandoned in an empty apartment sometime around 2016 by officers from the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS).

That in itself is hardly anything out of the ordinary in that innumerable cats are left all alone in this world in order to fend for themselves all the time, especially by their elderly owners who die unexpectedly. Sometimes cats such as Ian of the Kingstanding section of north Birmingham are found in time and thus are rehomed. (See Cat Defender post of July 27, 2013 entitled "Instead of Killing Her Off with a Jab of Sodium Pentobarbital and Then Burning Her Corpse, Ian Remains Steadfast at His Guardian's Side Long after Her Death.")

Others, such as Harvey of Keighley in West Yorkshire, who although rescued in time are condemned to spend the remainder of their dwindling days being shuttled between multiple failed adoptions, various fosterers, and frequent return trips to shelters without ever again finding another permanent home. (See Cat Defender posts of August 31, 2017, March 12, 2018, July 29, 2019, and October 27, 2020 entitled, respectively, "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," "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," "Repeatedly Shunned, Maligned, and Bandied About from One Place to Another, Harvey Is Now Engaged in the Most Important Battle of His Life," and "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.")

Those cats that somehow survive such tragedies and go on to live again are the lucky ones but many others, such as Susi of Basel, end up starving to death and succumbing to various diseases. (See Cat Defender post of July 13, 2019 entitled "Susi Is Knowingly Left All Alone in an Empty Apartment to Slowly Die of Starvation and Untreated Hyperthyroidism after Her Owner Is Confined to an Old Folks' Home.")

In Miss Pearl's case there can be little doubt that she was intentionally abandoned because the dwelling in which she was found had been cleaned out and her owners were long gone. A similar tragedy befell a white Persian named Tavia in late 2010. (See Cat Defender post of December 23, 2010 entitled "Tavia's Desperate Pleas for Help Fall Upon the Deaf Ears of the Evangelical Who Abandoned Her and the Heartless Officials and Citizens of Kissimmee.") 

It has not been disclosed how much time that Miss Pearl was forced to spend unjustly incarcerated at BARCS and under what conditions but that period of her troubled life could not possibly have been very pleasant. That petit fait is attested to by not only how grossly the shelter mishandled her but also by how vindictively it slandered and libeled her to the hilt.

 "But it was hard for poor anxious Pearl to settle into her new life," it did concede March 19, 2019 in its blog. (See "Pearl, a Cat Hard at Work.") "She was easily overstimulated, sometimes lashing out if she got too much attention. She didn't mean to be antsy -- she wanted to be an independent lady."

Au contraire, considering the trauma that she had been put through in her previous home it would have been surprising if she had behaved much differently than she did at the shelter. Moreover, even cats that

have not been previously abused and neglected have, quite understandably, a difficult time of adjusting to life in a cage at a noisy, crowded, and disease-ridden feline penitentiary where the smell of death is every bit as palpable as the air is foul. 

She More than Earned Her Keep by Being a Proficient Mouser

In reality, no cat belongs in any of these wretched warehouses under any circumstances. (See The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 11, 2011, "Shelter Shock: Cats Can Get Sick from Stress. One Proposed Remedy? Keep Them Out.")

Nevertheless, once a cat has been branded as being violent and unsociable, no matter how unjustly, it is in big trouble and it normally takes a miracle in order to save its life. Fortunately for a cat dubbed Mr. Krabs, he had the knowledgeable and compassionate staffers at the Köln-Dellbrück Tierheim in Köln on his side. (See Cat Defender posts of August 31, 2021 and December 25, 2021 entitled, respectively, "Mr. Krabs' Young Life Has Been Placed in Grave Jeopardy Because of the Malicious Lies Spread about Him by His Vindictive Former Owners" and "Mr. Krabs Is at Long Last Exonerated, Released from Custody, and Provided with a New Home after Having Been Unjustly Locked Up at a Shelter for Seven Months on a Bum Rap.")

Now, that shelter which did such an excellent job of refuting the lies spread about Mr. Krabs has been taxed with the herculean task of rehabilitating the reputation and thus saving the life of a cat ignominiously named Killa that recently arrived on its doorstep from a shelter in Spain. (See Tag24 of Dresden, April 23, 2022, "Diese Katze heißt wohl nicht umsonst 'Killa'!")

Up until fairly recently, BARCS likely would have killed off Miss Pearl without even so much as thinking twice about doing so but because it had inaugurated a Working Cat Program in 2012, it instead gave her to the Annapolis Maritime Museum (AMM) in the city of the same name, forty kilometers south of Baltimore, in order to keep the mice under control. Under that program, BARCS not only waived her adoption fee but also sterilized, vaccinated, and microchipped her gratis.

It additionally footed the bill for her food, bedding, litter, and litterbox. Presumably, the moneyed high-muck-a-mucks at the museum were willing to have paid at least for the water that she drank. It is not known
who emptied and cleaned her litterbox.

"Once hard to place in a home, Pearl was given a second chance at a happy life thanks to one of BARCS' life-saving programs," the shelter patted itself on its back in its blog. "The Working Cat Program saves the lives of homeless pets who otherwise would not have been suitable for adoption; it gives a second chance to animals who might not have one otherwise."

While it is difficult to take issue with any of that, such sweetheart deals are not, generally speaking, always a prudent idea. First of all, the myriad of dangers inherent in the "Free to a Good Home" advertisements that dot lampposts and are found in newspapers and, especially, on the Internet are legendary. For example, that is precisely how that Deamion Robert Davis acquired the cat that he so brutally killed last year in the parking lot of a funeral home in Johnson City. (See Cat Defender posts of June 4, 2021 and November 12, 2021 entitled, respectively, "A Beautiful Yellow and White Cat Is Brutally Slain and Then Put on Display in the Parking Lot of a Funeral Home in Johnson City but Absolutely Nobody Cares about Apprehending Its Killer, Least of All the Utterly Worthless Local Police" and "Deamion Robert Davis Is at Long Last Arrested for Brutally Killing a Cat in the Parking Lot of a Funeral Home in Johnson City That Earlier Had Been Stolen and Given to Him on Craigslist.")  

Secondly, any individual or organization, such as the AMM, that is not only unwilling to pay a cat's adoption fee and its veterinary bill but additionally is too cheap to even feed and shelter it does not have any business whatsoever with being entrusted with its life. Thirdly, just because an institution is an established fixture within a community does not necessarily prove that it is capable and willing to properly care for a cat.

"Working cats like Pearl aren't suited for indoor living," BARCS further declares in its blog. "They would much rather chase down rodents in exchange for food, water, shelter and care."

Miss Pearl Loved the Companionship of Mary Ostrye and Others

For what it is worth, some researchers would disagree with that. (See the University of California at Davis, press release of August 9, 2021, "Cats Prefer to Get Free Meals Rather Than to Work for Them.")

Regardless of where the truth lies in that debate, there cannot be any denying that Miss Pearl more than fulfilled the job that she was brought in to do at the AMM. "Since Miss Pearl has been a resident, we haven't had any signs of mice," the museum's Mary Ostrye is quoted in BARCS' blog as testifying.

On the other hand, it certainly did not take her long to more than amply demonstrate that everything that BARCS had said about her being violent and unsociable was nothing more than a self-serving malicious lie designed to spare it the trouble and expense of placing her in the right home. She did so by, inter alia, becoming the museum's unofficial mascot, by sleeping in the laps of office workers and following them and visitors around much like a love-sick puppy, through her attendance at staff meetings, and by crashing weddings held at the seaport.

She also quickly established herself as somewhat of a feline reincarnation of Harry Houdini with her uncanny knack of escaping from locked rooms. Antics such as jumping into window sills and attempting to scale columns delighted one and all.

Although in the blog article cited supra, BARCS claims to provide all those who adopt its working cats with some type of an enclosure, that does not appear to have been the case with Miss Pearl. Even more outrageously, it does not appear that the AMM provided her with any type of shelter, let alone anything even remotely resembling a real home.

That also is the opinion of photographer Steve Ember who ran into Miss Pearl on the plankings when he paid a visit to the museum in the early autumn of 2017. "We met on the sidewalk alongside the Annapolis Maritime Museum and, as 'Miss Kitty' (as I provisionally called her) showed interest from time to time in looking through a glass door at the museum, I assumed that might be her home -- at least when the doors were open," he wrote March 22, 2018 on medium.com. (See "Pearl the Working Girl.")

The picture that thus emerges of her life at the museum is that of a cat who was cruelly left outdoors and all alone not only evenings and nights but also on weekends, holidays, and at all other times when the museum's office was shuttered. Moreover, since Annapolis is located on Chesapeake Bay she was not only left out in the cold, ice and heat but also to tough it out during hurricanes, nor'easters, snowstorms. and the tidal floods that frequently inundate the city.

Most unforgivable of all, it appears that the AMM failed to have provided her with so much as an iota of protection in spite of it being located in a high-crime city. For example, seventy-six per cent of American cities are judged to be safer than Annapolis.

As a result, Miss Pearl's fragile life was placed in grave jeopardy from the very moment that the callous BARCS fobbed off her care and welfare upon the equally negligent and selfish staffers at the AMM. For example, although the shelter's online adoption form for its working cats raises a vast majority of the pertinent issues that relate to the proper care of a cat, it does not appear in hindsight that either it or the AMM paid any mind to the enforcement of those legitimate concerns.

Among the adoption prerequisites enumerated are the following: Who will be responsible for the cat's care? How often will that person be absent from the property? Will the cat be provided with fresh food and water daily? Will it be provided with heat and shelter? How close will it be residing to the main road? What other animals are present on the property? And, will the adopting business be willing to allow prearranged visits by BARCS in order to check on the cat's welfare?

She even Visited the Home of Margriet Mitchell 

That last stipulation is beyond the pale in that prearranged visits could not possibly serve any valid purpose. On the contrary, BARCS should have been conducting surprise, unannounced visits to the AMM. Specifically, those visits should have been conducted evenings, nights, weekends, holidays, and during inclement weather. Caring for a cat is, after all, a twenty-four-hour, seven day a week, three-hundred-sixty-five day a year job.

If adopters, such as the AMM, should be found not to be living up to their solemn obligations they should first be issued a warning. If they then failed to mend their negligent ways the cat should be taken away from them and placed in a more amenable setting.

Depending upon the level of negligence and abuse uncovered, charges also could be brought against those adopters who have violated the anti-cruelty statutes. None of those precautions were taken in the case of Miss Pearl and as a consequence the inevitable when it occurred turned out to have been far worse than anyone could ever have imagined. 

"It is with profound sadness we announce that Pearl, our beloved working cat, died yesterday," the museum announced at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday, December 10, 2020 on Facebook. "Our security cameras have confirmed she was attacked and killed by a collared dog who was wandering our museum property unattended."

At 11:18 a.m. on that same fateful morning, the AMM added an addendum to its earlier post on Facebook. "We invite you to view some of our favorite memories of our sweet Pearl," it began. "If you have pictures or videos of Pearl we would absolutely love to see them in the comments (section) below. She was adored by many."

A few days later, the museum's head honcho, Alice Estrada, paused just long enough in order to eulogize her. "She was a member of our family and the entire team is devastated. We still haven't recovered from it," she told the Baltimore Sun on December 21st. (See "'She Was One of a Kind': Annapolis Maritime Museum Working Cat Miss Pearl Killed by Dog Earlier This Month.") "She just brought us so much joy and levity. She was one of a kind. There will never be another Pearl."                                                        

As far as the AMM is concerned, the life and times of Miss Pearl pretty much came to an end then and there. "Happy Birthday to our Pearl in kitty heaven," the museum wrote February 26, 2021 on Facebook. "We welcome you to share your favorite memory of Pearl in the comments (section) below."

As best as it could be determined, that was the last time that the AMM has even so much as mentioned her name on Facebook. Moreover, if February 26th was indeed her birthday, it was not even remembered this year.

Equally disturbing, the museum apparently has decided against keeping her memory alive and therefore is not planning on even establishing a memorial in her honor. There accordingly surely must be something more than rank callousness behind its staffers' collective amnesia.

First of all, the AMM's terse December 10th announcement of her demise was hardly either complete or forthright. For instance, the photograph taken of the killer canine by one of its surveillance cameras was snapped during the daytime and that strongly suggests that Miss Pearl was killed right underneath staffers' noses while the museum's office likely was still open. 

If  Miss Pearl Was Unadoptable, What Cat Fits That Bill?

That deduction follows from the twin facts that December 9th fell on a Wednesday that year and the sun sets at around 5 p.m. that time of the year in the northeast. The greatest mystery of all, however, concerns what became of Miss Pearl's body.

Since staffers obviously did not stumble upon it while leaving work on the day of the attack and accordingly only learned about the dog from the surveillance tape the following morning, what happened to it? In particular, if the attack itself was captured on tape the museum should know what became of her corpse.

Therefore, it does not have a valid excuse for not retrieving it and providing Miss Pearl with a memorial service, a proper burial, and a fitting tombstone. Yet, it has not publicly addressed any of those outstanding issues.

Its unexplained failure to have done so raises the distinct possibility that staffers either did not even bother to search for it or, if they did and retrieved it, they simply tossed it into the nearest trash can. If that indeed was the case, such crass behavior gives a hollow ring to Estrada's supposedly heartfelt eulogy.

Secondly, it is beyond debate that the AMM failed miserably in its responsibility to have safeguarded Miss Pearl's fragile life. Even more deplorable, there had been problems in the past that the museum had failed to rectify.

For example, "Miss Pearl the working cat at the Annapolis Maritime Museum is missing," it announced November 5, 2018 on Facebook. "She went out yesterday (November 4th) and has uncharacteristically not returned to the museum. Please keep a lookout around Eastport (the neighborhood in which the museum is located) and downtown Annapolis."

Even that lackluster response is deplorable in that staffers should have been out beating the bushes for her instead of sitting at their keyboards and imploring their neighbors to do their job for them. An update posted later informed readers that she had been located but it, predictably omitted any mention as to when and where that had occurred.

Perhaps most shocking of all was the complete absence of a security detail on the boardwalk who possibly could have prevented Miss Pearl from being mauled to death by an out-of-control killer canine. Given that there are so many ways in which an owner can fail a cat, most people have fallen short in their responsibilities at one time or another but the problem with staffers at the AMM is that they had more than one wake-up call with Miss Pearl but they still stubbornly refused to take her security seriously.

Thirdly, as far as Miss Pearl's killer is concerned, the AMM told the Baltimore Sun only that Animal Control, presumably Animal Care and Control of Millersville, twenty-three kilometers northwest of Annapolis, had been contacted. There is not anything to be found online, however, that would even remotely suggest that an investigation was ever even initiated in order to bring both the dog and its owner to the altar of justice.

Much more importantly, the AMM does not appear to have done anything in order to have avenged Miss Pearl's killing. For instance, it most assuredly could have filed complaints with the Annapolis Police Department, the Anne Arundel County Sheriff's Office at 8 Church Circle in Annapolis, the Anne Arundel County Police in Millersville, and the SPCA of Anne Arundel County at 1815 Bay Ridge Avenue in Annapolis and insisted that all of them take appropriate action in order to locate the dog and to charge its owner.

Miss Pearl's Brutal Killer Is Still at Large and Likely Will Strike Again

It additionally could have contacted visitors to the museum as well as local businesses and residents in order to ascertain if any of them had either witnessed the attack or had additional surveillance footage of it. In case it was too bone-lazy to have done any of that, it most assuredly has more than sufficient funds on hand in order to have retained the services of a private dick to have looked into the matter. (See Cat Defender post of April 2, 2015 entitled "A Cornishman Shells Out £10,000 on Private Peepers in Order to Track Down Farah's Killer but Once Again Gets Stiffed by Both the Police and the RSPCA.")

  

Whereas it might be unfair to conclude that the museum has done absolutely nothing in that regard, it most assuredly has done very little and although Miss Pearl is now in her grave her soul continues to cry out for justice. It therefore is downright shameful that after she had given so much to the museum it has been totally unwilling to even provide her with a tiny bit of what she so richly deserves.

Fourthly, Miss Pearl never should have been assigned to BARCS' Working Cat Program in the first place and subsequently fobbed off onto the slackers at the AMM.  Au contraire, the evidence is overwhelming that she was preeminently adoptable and therefore richly belonged in a loving and secure home.

"They (BARCS) said she wasn't adoptable but she just loved people and was really well-known in the community," even Estrada belatedly conceded to the Baltimore Sun. "Personality-plus and she didn't know a stranger. She was always seeking attention."

That is not all either. "She enjoyed business meetings. She would sit in a chair and her head would go back and forth while people talked," Estrada continued. "She expected a seat at the table."

Estrada's assessment of her is backed up all the way by Ember. "As I was shooting, I heard an inquisitive 'rrrowolll' repeated several times down the quiet street behind me, followed by this cute and conversational little girl strutting up to say hello," he wrote in the medium.com article cited supra. "As she was so welcoming of petting attention -- and conversation -- we had a very nice visit, which naturally included some photography."

She even craved human interaction so much that she sometimes strayed into the nearby community. "Noooo! She was just at my house a few weeks ago," was Margriet Mitchell's response to the news of her death December 10, 2020 on AMM's Facebook page. "Such a sweet neighborhood friend."

Most astonishing of all, BARCS completely ignored the fact that she had been found in an apartment and therefore was accustomed to residing with humans. If that was not more than sufficient proof that she should have been rehomed, then what is?

To read BARCS' and the AMM's disparate descriptions of Miss Pearl one would be led to believe that they were describing two entirely different cats. Whereas BARCS' monumental failure to have properly evaluated her possibly could be attributable to the frightened, defensive, and confused behavior that so many cats exhibit after they have been abruptly uprooted from their familiar homes and guardians and subsequently imprisoned in hellhole shelters, that in no way excuses its abysmal ignorance. Anyone or organization that has anything at all to do with cats should be considerably more intelligent.

BARCS' colossal faux pas once again serves to shine the light of day on the horrific and disturbing truth that absolutely none of the millions of cats that are slaughtered each year by shelters, Animal Control officers, veterinarians, and cops are aggressive, violent, and a threat in any way to humans. Such blatant lies are merely an excuse for getting rid of them as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Mac Has Taken over from Miss Pearl as the Museum's Mascot

C'est-à-dire, when cat-haters complain about footloose cats, cheap, mendacious, and corrupt-as-hell public officials respond by trapping and killing them. No one even remotely involved in this sleazy, despicable business has so much as an ounce of morality, justice, and compassion.

Just as there is good money to be made from war, there also are beaucoup bucks to be made by slaughtering cats and the same logic applies to BARCS' Working Cat Program. "Working cats like Pearl wouldn't be able to find a home without your generous donations," the shelter expostulated in its blog. "We work with every animal's unique needs to find them (sic) the best possible outcome -- the best possible home. But we couldn't do that without your help."

On the other hand, if BARCS is so incapable of correctly evaluating cats and unwilling to make surprise inspections in order to ensure that those that it inveigles into its Working Cat Program are being properly treated and residing in safe environments its highfalutin rhetoric is not only dishonest but dangerous to its cats as well. Any chef can boast about his culinary prowess but the proof is always to be found in the pudding and BARCS' mistakes with Miss Pearl call into question its willingness to do its due diligence in regard to the "hundreds" of cats that it has drafted into slave labor.

It additionally is considerably less than candid about its kill rate. For instance, on its web site it claims to have impounded four-thousand-three-hundred-fifty-eight cats in 2020.

Of those, one-thousand-four-hundred-eighty-seven were classified as strays, nine-hundred-one others were surrendered by their owners, an additional eighty-nine were handed over by owners demanding that the shelter kill them, one-thousand-six-hundred-eighty-seven others were designated as community cats, and another one-hundred-ninety-four felines arrived via Animal Control impoundments and because of evictions.

Of those thousands of cats it found homes for only one-thousand-five-hundred-fifty-four of them. It successfully returned ninety of them to their rightful owners and one-thousand-five-hundred-seventy-two of them to the field, presumably to managed colonies. Six-hundred-fifty-seven cats were fobbed off onto other shelters and it admits to either losing or callously allowing to die in its care twenty-five additional cats.

Yet, it still slaughtered three-hundred-ninety-eight cats outright and whacked another eighty-five at their owners' behest. Even so the shelter still claims that since it killed only five-hundred-eight of the four-thousand-three-hundred-fifty-eight felines that it impounded that its kill rate was accordingly only 11.65 per cent. 

Since nobody knows what ultimately became of those cats that it gave to other shelters and returned to the field its kill rate could possibly be as high as sixty-two per cent. Much more importantly as far as this inquiry is concerned, it is not known where, if at all, that Miss Pearl and other working cats who met with foul play while on the job in 2020 fit into its statistical scheme of things.

Most disquieting of all, BARCS' true kill rate actually could be much higher given that the statistics that it releases to the public have not been independently verified by anyone from the outside. In fact, the entire system that societies have established in order to deal with cats is not only outmoded but exists in a shroud of darkness and is sustained only by lies. 

The AMM's failure of Miss Pearl is far more egregious than even that of BARCS. In addition to its unwillingness to make any provisions for her safety, Estrada has all but admitted that she belonged in a loving home.

For His Own Good, Mac Urgently Needs to Be Put on a Diet

Yet, neither she nor any of her fellow gratte-papiers were willing to have taken her home with them. Like most people in this world, they greedily lapped up all the love, devotion, companionship, and amusement that she so freely lavished upon them without ever bothering to return much of anything even remotely worthwhile to her.

Even more startling, they had more than four years in order to have recognized what an exceptional female she was but instead they deliberately chose to harden their already calloused hearts and to shun her entreaties. Her blood is therefore all over their hands and her death is on their consciences, that is, if they have any.

For any individual or group of individuals that even remotely cared about a cat the brutal killing of Miss Pearl would have been more than sufficient not only to have broken their hearts but to have plunged them into a prolonged period of depression and heartfelt sorrow. That was far from being the case, however, with staffers at the museum who hardly missed a beat by immediately vowing to the Baltimore Sun less than two weeks after her death their intention to acquire a replacement for her.

"There's a new leading man at the Annapolis Maritime Museum's office," the AMM  proudly announced February 24, 2021 on Facebook. "Meet Milo a working cat from the SPCA of Anne Arundel County."

That is indeed peculiar for a number of reasons. For instance, although the SPCA of Anne Arundel County is located in Annapolis as opposed to Baltimore and has a Working Cat Program of its own, why did the museum choose to adopt from it when it already had an established working relationship with BARCS?

Even more curiously, earlier on March 13, 2020 the SPCA had posted a video on YouTube entitled "About the SPCA's Working Cat Program" that is narrated by Bonnie Burke and features an overweight tuxedo dubbed Patch who if not actually Milo is at the very least a dead ringer for him. In the video, he is said to work, presumably as a mouser, at Green Street Gardens (sic).

An online search failed to turn up a "Green Street Gardens," but it did locate a Greenstreet Gardens at 391 West Bay Front Road in Lothian, twenty-four kilometers south of Annapolis. The plant and flower nursery is operated by Ray and Stacy Greenstreet who recently kept at least four cats. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to determine if Milo was one of them.

"We are currently fostering Milo to ensure this would be a good fit for both AMM and this handsome boy," the museum continued in its February 24, 2021 post on Facebook. "He's currently adjusting to his new surroundings, but seems to be a very well tempered kitty. We're happy to have him as a new roommate!"

Whatever else can be said for Estrada and her colleagues they certainly are a capricious lot in that nothing ever remains the same with them for very long. "The museum's newest employee, lovingly named Big Mac, is settling in quite well," they announced two weeks later on March 10, 2021 on Facebook.

The name Mac is derived from the old McNasby Seafood and Oyster Company which the AMM leased from the city of Annapolis in 2001 to use as its executive office. Miss Pearl's name is likewise derived from one of the female McNasbys.

How Long Will He Survive in Such a Perilous Setting?

No one connected with either the AMM or BARCS has been willing to publicly divulge her original name, but to so callously change the names of two cats in order to promote its business smacks of bloodsucking capitalism at its worst. It also is cruel, insensitive, and demonstrates a total lack of respect for both Miss Pearl and Mac.

"The naming of cats is a difficult matter," T.S. Eliot observed in his 1939 seminal work, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. "It isn't one of your holiday games."

Oblivious to the confusion that changing a cat's name creates in its own mind, the museum pressed ahead with its warped agenda. "He's taking his time exploring his surroundings," the AMM continued in its March 10, 2021 post on Facebook. "For now, he feels most comfortable in the upstairs' office. Big Mac has also developed a fondness for the attic."

Nothing further was heard about Mac until January 24, 2022. "Last week, Mac 'Big Mac' the cat was officially adopted as the Annapolis Maritime Museum's permanent resident purr-fessional (sic) feline," the museum heralded on Facebook. "Weighing in at eighteen and one-half pounds, this big guy is ready to greet you when you visit the museum."

The AMM also disclosed at that time that he enjoys, inter alia, playing with feather toys, eating multiple meals per day, clawing his fish pad, and jumping on desks when staffers are preoccupied on Zoom calls. Why that it took the museum eleven months in order to finally make up its mind to adopt him has not been explained but its absurdly long delay seems to be cruel, especially if he were returned one or more times to the SPCA during the interim.

"I started as a temp, but recently accepted a full-time position," was all that the museum, speaking through Mac, had to say on that subject February 14, 2022 on Facebook. "Don't let my burly physique fool you. I am a very active guy who enjoys long walks around the exhibit, jumping on my co-workers' desks, and playing with my toys. I spend most of my time napping or seeking pets from my colleagues."

That particular posting went on to reveal one of Mac's weaknesses. "I have been known to dabble in catnip recreationally," the museum admitted on his behalf. "I hope that's not a problem." 

It is difficult to make an accurate evaluation of Mac's situation based upon the paucity of information that the AMM has disclosed so far but overall things do not look encouraging. First of all, although it is a good idea that he appears to be spending most of his time indoors and, especially, in the attic, that still leaves many unanswered questions.

For example, where does he sleep at night? Also, what does he do on weekends, holidays, and when the museum is closed for extended periods of time due to either inclement weather or renovations? 

Above all, which one of Estrada's confederates is responsible for his personal safety? The dog that so savagely killed Miss Pearl is still at large and it is highly improbable that its owner has changed his thinking and is now willing to keep it on a leash.

 Miss Pearl and Her Shadow Have Graced the Planking for the Last Time

Rather, vicious, unsocialized dogs running loose without muzzles is an ever-growing menace that is threatening not only the lives of cats everywhere but those of some humans as well. (See Cat Defender posts of October 28, 2013, July 2, 2015, September 22, 2019, and July 1, 2021 entitled, respectively, "Slow to Recuperate from Life-Threatening Injuries Sustained in a Savage Mauling by an Unleashed Dog, Stubbs Announces His Intention to Step Down as Mayor of Talkeetna," "After Allowing One of Their Dogs to Maul McGuire to Within an Inch of His Life, the Toronto Police Do Not Have Even the Common Decency to Summon Veterinary Help for Him," "Sparkle Is Killed on the Front Stoop of Her House by an Unleashed Dog in the Latest of Centuries-Old Deadly Attacks that Bear the Unmistakable Imprimatur of the House of Commons," and "Fourteen-Year-Old Mini Is Ripped to Shreds by a Pack of Vicious Hounds but Those Responsible Never Will Be Punished Because the Limeys Value the 'Unspeakable in Full Pursuit of the Uneatable' Far More Than They Do Her Right to Live," plus the Daily Mail, April 3, 2015, "Shocking Moment Three-Legged Cat Was Mauled to Death by Two Passing Dogs as It Lay in Its Front Garden.")

Owners who deliberately sic their dogs on cats are an even greater threat. (See Cat Defender posts of October 18, 2009, October 23, 2009, March 24, 2010, July 18, 2015, and April 15, 2022 entitled, respectively, "Minneapolis Is Working Overtime Trying to Kill an Octogenarian's Cat Named Hoppy for Defending His Turf Against Canine Intruders," "An Essex Welfare Bum Who Sicced His Dog on Cats and Beat Them with His Cane Is Now Pretending to Be the Victim of an Assault," "Seven-Month-Old Bailey Is Fed to a Lurcher by a Group of Sadistic Teens in Search of Cheap Thrills in Northern Ireland," "A Blackpudlian Thrill Seeker Who Sicced Her Pit Bull on Regi and Then Laughed Off Her Fat Ass as He Tore Him Apart Receives a Customary Clean Bill of Health from the Courts," and "Buddy Is Mauled Nearly to Death on His Own Porch by Vicious Dogs Deliberately Sicced on Him by a Pair of Vile Black Kids in Philadelphia," plus the New York Post, January 25, 2021, "'Mayor' of New York City Housing Authority Complex -- Cat Named Tuxedo -- Killed by Pit Bulls.")

So pervasive is this problem that it is even perilous for cats to live under the same roof with some dogs. (See Cat Defender post of August 14, 2021 entitled "Amazing Little Juicebox Overcomes Not Only a Near Fatal Mauling at the Hands of His Owners' Dog but also Penury and Being Cruelly Abandoned to Shift for Himself Inside the Snakepit World of Veterinary Medicine" and Global News of Toronto, April 4, 2022, "Martha Stewart Buries Pet Cat after Four of Her Dogs Attack, Kill It.")

As if Mac did not already have enough things to worry about, the museum announced June 5, 2021 on Facebook that a female fox and her  kits have taken up residence in the museum's small park and they, like unleashed dogs, pose an imminent threat to his life. Furthermore, considering that he is so grossly overweight it is doubtful that he would be anywhere quick enough in order to escape from such prolific feline predators. 

Secondly, the museum urgently needs to put Mac on a diet. It could begin by eliminating dry food and table scraps from his daily regimen in favor of low-calorie canned meats.

Since the general rule for losing weight consists not only of reducing caloric intake but also of increasing physical activities, staffers might want to consider putting him in a harness and on a leash and walking him twice a day. With vicious dogs and foxes nearby, it additionally would be a good idea for them to carry big sticks, loud horns, and canisters of either tear gas or pepper spray with them on these excursions.

Ideally, Mac should weigh slightly more than half of what he does now and for staffers to be feeding him, in the museum's own words "multiple meals a day" is irresponsible. That is especially the case given that the life-expectancy for obese cats is estimated to be only five to ten years at the most.

The museum and BARCS cost Miss Pearl her life and now the former with the assistance of the SPCA of Anne Arundel County are well on the way to doing likewise with Mac. Furthermore, it is strongly suspected that the abuse, naked exploitation, neglect, and banding about that both cats were subjected to is merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

The only obviously positive thing that can be said about the Working Cat Programs of both BARCS and the SPCA is that they are far preferable to their customary practice of exterminating all felines that enter their portals. Nevertheless, shockingly absent from both programs and the callous and exploitative behavior of the AMM is any genuine appreciation of what Leonardo da Vinci once called "nature's masterpiece" as well as any real desire to do everything in their power to protect, nurture, and cherish them during the brief time that they have been allotted on this earth.

As for Miss Pearl, she was not a creation of Hollywood who dies in motion picture only to later resurface in a new release, but rather she was a life and blood mortal cat who is now gone forever. She therefore will not be returning and her brutal killing is made all the more tragic because she never should have been on either that wretched boardwalk or given to the AMM in the first place.

Photos: Mark Bandy (Miss Pearl up close), the Annapolis Maritime Museum (Miss Pearl with some shells, the killer canine, and Mac), BARCS (Miss Pearl with Mary Ostrye), Margriet Mitchell (Miss Pearl in a car), and Steve Ember (Miss Pearl up close and on the planking.)