No Help for Trapped Cat in Houston

If the power company called and asked if it was ok if they turn off your power briefly while someone rescues a cat stuck on a power pole, would you be ok with that? I would. Normally when my power goes out, it just happens - I don't get any advance notice. And I, like everyone else, deal with the situation until it comes back on. But in the case of a cat in need of help in Houston, no one even asked:

Lauren Kutac’s 8-month-old kitten spent 47 hours on the pole located in the backyard of her home in southwest Houston before she was electrocuted in the middle of the night.
[...]

The cat lover said she called several agencies including the Houston Fire Department, the SPCA, the Houston Police Department, and CenterPoint while she was sitting on the pole. They all declined her request for help.

“Not one person could help me,” she said.
[...]
CenterPoint Energy makes the decisions regarding the power pole. A company spokesperson said they could not turn off the power because it would affect several customers throughout the neighborhood.

I repeat: No one even asked.

The Houston SPCA spokesman, Meera Nandal, brings her usual fail:

“It’s a big misconception that [cats] should be free roaming and it’s OK for them to be outdoors, but actually, they need to live indoors,” said Nandlal.

kthx. So I guess it's the stupid owner's own fault the cat got stuck in the first place so the cat should just have to die. *cough*prevention-of-cruelty*cough*

The opportunity to help a pet owner in need, get some positive publicity for your shelter and educate the public while you're at it just got sucked into your vortex of pigheadedness. Thanks for playing.

I wonder where the owner will look when she's ready to get another cat? I'm guessing NOT the HSPCA, maybe not any shelter, after this experience.

Kitteh Vids

I'm not a huge consumer of videos so I miss a lot but wanted to share these two:

Cat bowl
and
Tickle Me Kitten

It's Kitten Season - Your Local Shelter Needs You

Shelters all across the country are in need of supplies such as canned cat food and kitty litter to help care for all the kittens who get turned in to shelters every Spring. This shelter in Myrtle Beach, SC is making a plea to the community for assistance:

The Grand Strand Humane Society in Myrtle Beach needs your help.

The shelter is asking for donations of cat food, kitten food, canned cat food and cat litter.

The humane society's executive director, Sandy Brown, says the shelter is caring for over 100 cats and kittens and every cage is full.

Your local shelter is probably in similar need. Remember that your local shelter relies on you for support. They likely receive little or no financial support from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) - even if your local shelter is named "Humane Society". The HSUS does not run any animal shelters, anywhere although they do offer to take their money (to the tune of a $4000 - $20,000 "consulting fee") if your local shelter needs "help".

***

Shelters in the Baltimore, MD area are teaming up in an effort to get 500 cats/kittens into homes this month by waiving adoption fees. See more info here.

Bird Group Watching TNR Colonies Like a Hawk

Apparently the American Bird Conservancy spies have infiltrated every TNR feral cat colony in the US. The spies each have a clicker counter (made to look like a rhinestone cat collar) to notify HQ about every bird that is killed by a TNR cat. And that count is accurate because you know, there is a code of honor among TNR cats about the birds they kill. The TNR Prey-O-Meter at HQ is about to go into overload, therefore the American Bird Conservancy has pronounced:

[A] feral cat management program called trap, neuter, and release is failing to substantially reduce cat numbers and is contributing to the deaths of millions of birds each year, including endangered species.

To publicize how rilly-super-real their numbers are, they even made a little video.

*cough*CatHaters*cough*

Debunking here. No Kill Advocacy Center has an informative pdf on TNR here.

Plays Well with Others

kitty petting parrot

Kittycat: Wake up yo!

Time lapse photography of one night in Hell: