It’s been a while since we touched on the topic of thinly-veiled cat hatred masquerading as academic rigor in studies blaming cats for killing improbable numbers of birds and small mammals in countries like the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand.
Unfortunately those “studies,” which have little relationship with reality, have serious consequences. In places like New Zealand, it’s the widespread government-sanctioned slaughter of felines and the rise of vigilantism by creepy people who clearly enjoy killing cats.
Now that sort of thing is happening with greater frequency in the US.
In Brooklyn someone poisoned a group of at least seven community cats. A man who cares for the colony of strays found the felines dead under his deck, where they usually sleep. The cats were all bleeding from nose and mouth, and authorities believe someone put rat poison in their food.
Lab tests and necropsy results are pending. St. Vincent Feline Rescue and state Sen. Steve Chan, a former police officer, are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the identification and arrest of the person or people responsible. Cats from two other nearby colonies have gone missing and authorities believe they may have met the same fate.
The deaths have taken a toll on Albert Vincent Berto, a Brooklyn man who has been caring for and feeding the strays for years.
“ It gave me purpose. It gave me something to get up in the morning for,” he told The Gothamist. “ I’m just bewildered. I’m just, I feel lost. I’m so lost right now.”
Meanwhile a man in West Palm Beach, Fl., has been shooting cats.
A local rescue managed to get footage of the man during his latest attack. The video shows the man riding up to the exterior of a closed flea market at night and taking shots at cats with a hand gun.
A cat named Zoe survived a gunshot wound, but the bullet shattered a front leg, which had to be amputated.
Staff at a local rescue stressed that the flea market shooting isn’t the first of its kind. They believe the same person may be responsible for shooting other cats in the West Palm Beach area.
“This is not an isolated incident from what we know,” Gabby Gluck of Furry Friends told WPBF, a local ABC affiliate. “This is just the incident that we have footage of.”
Furry Friends has announced a $5,000 reward for anyone who can help police identify the man in the video footage. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office is handling the investigation.
Those weren’t the only similar incidents this week. In Tennessee, three people were arrested after killing several cats and severely injuring a kitten with blow darts. In Hawaii, two men face murder and assault charges after allegedly attacking a man and his sister, who were feeding stray cats in Maui. Alfred Kailihiwa, 71, who was well known as a caretaker of local strays, was rushed to the hospital after the attack but died of his injuries a short time later. And in Rochester, NY, a local shelter’s outdoor cat homes were smashed by cat-hating vandals the week prior, and not for the first time.
Pain In The Bud 
Well if I have a name, those people will receive a curse of imaginable depth – most especially if I can find a photo of the POS. Which isn’t too hard nowadays.
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All terribly sad. A chapter in my book is about the bogus studies vs. true observationally, and, a post on my blog tells about post-tornado (instant deforestation) effects on birds present and cats present in an urban neighborhood – and some “studies”.. Since most lots turned to high rises after, we have one of the few yards with bushes and re-growing trees, and so, a place for ferals (TNRed by us) stray cats, birds. We’ve watched birds co-exist with those cats, waiting for my husband to feed them, then swooping down for the leftovers. Plenty of birds, and none caught.
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We’ve been getting a lot of that too. New apartment buildings with pretentious names like The Residences At Sterling Lane, The Regency Lofts and The Artisan Villas, with the same “luxury” amenities and ridiculously high rents.
It’s good that your strays stay on your property so no one can give you grief about feeding and caring for them. Bad actors are also much less likely to mess with them because they know you’re right there and keeping a close eye on them.
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We feed strays on our fenced property and often keep the cats. The nearest neighbors have been informed about the cats and they don’t bother them – not a bad achievement where “nuisance animals” are often shot.
Sadly, the county passed a local law that prohibits more than two animals of animals of any species per household. The local Humane Society suggested and supported the law. It’s absolutely ridiculous, doesn’t achieve anything positive. We quit the HS in protest.
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I can’t see how it’s legal to tell people they can only have two domestic animals in their own homes. If it’s an apartment co-op or something, sure. Or laws prohibiting people from keeping wild animals. But domestic pets? On your own private property? That’s overreach and it will not prevent hoarding cases.
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I just don’t get why people do these terrible things. Sadistic joy?
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Some seem to legitimately think they’re helping birds and small mammals, but yeah, some are just sick bastards.
There are “communities” of people online who pay others to torture animals on live streams or recorded videos. I read about what they do to cats and it still haunts me.
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I read some of that stuff too. It’s too awful for words.
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So sad about the animal limit laws. I don’t get it either. I think if they ‘re emotional support animals none of that applies, but you have to go through al that process to get that designation.
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Anyone can declare any pet an ESA and there’s no certificate or anything that makes it official. Websites that claim to sell ESA certificates are scams.
Service animals are different. They require intensive training that costs tens of thousands of dollars, they have to be registered, and they’re exclusively for people who have conditions or injuries that render them incapable of doing certain basic tasks.
I think the confusion comes from service animals and ESAs being conflated online and in entertainment media.
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Hmm I haven’t seen those websites offering to send certificates for emotional support animals by the website itself. Whatever I saw said you need certification from a mental health professional or an MD.
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Sorry for the confusion.
Since there’s no certifying authority anyone can call their pet an ESA, but yeah, if you have a formal letter from a mental health professional explicitly stating the animal is important for your mental health, then you might avoid problems with air travel or in other restricted spaces.
So if I want to call Buddy my ESA, I can do that and take him anywhere. However, if I want to avoid potential problems while flying, going into a grocery store or that sort of thing, then a letter from a psychologist might help, but it’s not guaranteed.
It doesn’t have any legal status so it’s still up to the discretion of the business or property where you’re bringing the pet.
Also, some states have laws that say you need an established relationship with a mental health professional for them to vouch for you that you benefit from the presence of an ESA. It’s to prevent “doctor shopping” for ESAs and prevent unscrupulous professionals from starting ESA letter mills. The length of the client relationship varies by law but I believe most are at least 30 days.
The websites are a different thing. There are lots of websites claiming to offer “official” ESA registration, but there is no official ESA registration, so those are scams.
I hope that clears it up. It’s definitely confusing, which I think makes it easier for scammers to trick people into paying for fake ESA registrations.
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Wow, much more complicated than I thought!
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No worries, I’d just looked into it recently because a friend had to find a new home for his cat due to his housing. He did find a nice person and they keep in touch. But I’d hoped there would be a way he could the kitty.
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These savages not only killed innocent animals they broke Albert, what a dirty rotten shame. I totally agree that the demonization of cats takes an ugly toll, yet it continues. All these cat haters need is more cat hate coming from environmentalists and conservationists that claim cats are ruining the ecosystem. Anyone feeding stays or TNR cats have to keep a very low profile and be as unnoticeable as possible for their own safety and the safety of the cats.
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The worst part, aside from the killing of innocent animals, is that there’s no evidence that vigilantism makes even the smallest difference in bird survival. People are acting and making policy based on guesswork, wishful thinking and spite.
You’re absolutely right about people doing TNR and managing colonies. It’s crazy that they have to worry about their own safety in addition to the safety of the cats, but that’s where we are now.
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Yes, being very discreet is very important. We used to do TNR in public places and had to be extremely careful lest someone took offense. To be fair, the majority of people were in favor of TNR. But it takes only one critic to ruin everything.
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Poor cats, they can’t defend themselves; they can’t ask for help. I just don’t understand how people can be so cruel, not just to cats, but to all animals. If only everyone were more empathetic toward animals and understood that it’s not their fault they exist, that they’re just trying to live.
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I don’t understand it either, and people who do this sort of thing lack basic empathy, which does not bode well for how they treat people as well.
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