Cat euthanized while owners are away...

Wasn't someone looking after the cat while they were on their
vacation?! Didn't they notice that said cat had disappeared?
If I was cat-sitting and my charge didn't show up for dinner, I'd
know something was wrong pretty soon and do something about it!

For some of our cats that would be right, others have routinely
gone walkabout for a day or two Our Ishmael disappeared for most
of a summer, reappearing briefly every couple of days, if that.
It turned out he'd taken up residence in a nearby hedge and would
occasionally drop in to neighbour's via their catflap to share
the catfood on offer there. Then after about three months he
settled down to staying with us almost continuously again.

Only to restart this when a neighbour moved in with a family of
Somalis. Ishmael and the male Somali obviously had a rivalry
going on about which was the Handsomest Cat in the Universe.
They *both* moved out of their respective homes for a few weeks
and occupied opposite ends of the same hedge snarling at each
other all night. I don't know who won but they both moved back
home after a bit.

So, I wouldn't have been that bothered if Ishmael had gone
missing for a couple of days. But if Muriel had gone for that
long I'd have been pretty worried, the furthest she ever went
normally was posing on the garden wall (and now she hardly
ever goes even that far).

Anybody seen the children's book "Six Dinner Sid"? Our Ishmael
was like that.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

You folks have a point but, the question still remains? WHO WAS WATCHING
OUT FOR THE WELFARE OF THE CAT WHILE THEY WERE GONE. I have yet to see a
neighbor of friend say they knew the cat was missing.
We had a neighbor once that just left and let the cat fend for itself and
then complained bacause no one kept track of the cat.
"Outsider" wrote in message
. ..
Outsider wrote in
:

"John F. Eldredge" wrote in
news
On Thu, 18 Oct 2007 19:41:21 -0400, Bill Stock wrote:


wrote in message
ups.com...
Watch the video.

http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_15847.aspx

I live in Mississauga and I can tell you that Animal Control is not
roaming the streets. Which means that some kind neighbour called
them.

I notice that Animal Control is quoted as saying that they "called one
of the many contact numbers." In other words, they had multiple
contact numbers, but tried only one of them before deciding to
euthanize the cat. In any situation where you have multiple contact
numbers listed, and the first one doesn't get a response, common sense
would be to try additional numbers before taking an action you can't
undo.


Assuming this has been reported accurately (which it may not have been)
it is pretty unforgiveable. If true I would count it as gross
negligence.

Andy



I just listened to the recorded report and the reporter quotes the
representative as saying they called "at least one" of the numbers listed
which sounds like doulbe talk and makes me believe they only called one
number.

"Granby" wrote in
:

You folks have a point but, the question still remains? WHO WAS
WATCHING OUT FOR THE WELFARE OF THE CAT WHILE THEY WERE GONE. I have
yet to see a neighbor of friend say they knew the cat was missing.
We had a neighbor once that just left and let the cat fend for itself
and then complained bacause no one kept track of the cat.


Agreed, the owners made the first mistake but 3-4 days after they found a
chipped cat they euthenized it after (perhaps) only calling one of the
contact numbers? That seems a bad call given the limited info we have.
They did say the cat was having problems but if they did not call any more
of the contact numbers that was not good.

It was an outdoor cat, so nobody was in charge of taking care of him.

http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAn...82732-sun.html

Wed, October 17, 2007

'In a rage' over cat's deathAnimal services put down pet
By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

Mark Serra is angrily bracing to bury his microchipped and tagged cat,
which he claims Mississauga's animal shelter should not have destroyed
after it strayed while he was away.

Serra wants the person responsible fired over the death of Krinkles at
the shelter on Central Parkway W.

Found abandoned and barely alive when he and his wife Jolanta Wojcik
were holidaying in the Turks and Caicos, the kitten was nursed for two
weeks with bottled milk.

'FELL IN LOVE'

"He loved us, that's for sure," Serra, 33, a heating and air
conditioning technican, said yesterday. "I fell in love ... like it
was my own child."



At almost 2 years of age, Krinkles was happiest outdoors, but was
always waiting when Serra came home.

The tiny black cat with white-gray accents often slept with a dog he
and Wojcik, a Toronto travel agency owner, also rescued on the
Caribbean island. But at night, he was in their bed.

When Wojcik had a $45 microchip implanted in June by Mississauga
Animal Services, it included their QEW-Hurontario St. area home
address and phone numbers for them, their parents plus Serra's cell --
which he said was forwarded to a cousin while on a recent one-week
vacation in Europe.

With microchipping and a $20 collar tag also imprinted with family
phone numbers, "I believed if someone found my cat, I'd have no
worries," he said. "But that's not the case."

A letter from the city-run shelter was waiting after they flew home
Oct. 14. It said they had until 6 p.m. Oct. 10 to collect Krinkles,
who had been picked up as a stray, "or he became their property,"
Serra said.

"It looked like a bill, there was no 'urgent' on it," and he said the
cousin, one of two people watching the house, had no reason to open
the envelope. After the shelter reopened Monday, Serra said staff told
him Krinkles had been aggressive and was destroyed, instead of being
offered for adoption.

'EXHAUSTED'

"They had the attitude they had exhausted all their measures, which
they didn't," he said. "They could have called my mom, who loved the
cat, or my wife's parents, but they didn't.

"It's an animal service ... they're supposed to protect them," Serra
said. "I was in a rage."

Too emotional to collect him, when a friend or relative brings
Krinkles to the couple's house, Serra said, "I plan to bury him out in
the backyard and plant a tree."

His wife said her husband was frustrated by no replies from Animal
Services bosses after speaking with an assistant two days ago.
Previous story: Sunflashes

================================================== ==========================================

http://www.mississauga.com/article/7698

Owner threatens lawsuit after cat euthanized


Krinkles snuggles up to her friend, Serra the dog, in this family
photo. Krinkles was euthanized by Mississauga Animal Services on
Saturday and the story has generated national attention. EMAIL
PRINT

Bookmark/Search this post with:



By: Owen Jarus

October 17, 2007 - It was a vacation that Mississauga's Mark Serra
will remember for all the wrong reasons.

The 33-year-old air conditioning specialist and his pregnant wife,
Jolantha Wojcik, left for Poland on Oct. 6 to visit Jolantha's 85-year-
old grandmother.

They left their pet cat, Krinkles, in the care of family members. They
came back to find that Krinkles had been euthanized by Mississauga's
Animal Services workers.

The incident has garnered national attention. Every media outlet from
The Mississauga News to The Toronto Sun, Global News, City TV and the
CBC have all interviews the grieving couple.

The events that led to Krinkles demise are still being unravelled.
What is known is that Animal Services workers picked up Krinkles, who
was an an outdoor cat, while his owners were on vacation.

"We didn't know the cat was missing," said Serra.

Meanwhile, family members spent a week trying to track down the AWOL
cat.

Since Krinkles had been microchipped, and wore a collar with a tag
listing six contact numbers, well, no one worried and everyone
expected their furry feline friend would show up eventually.

Krinkles was euthanized on October 13, a day before the couple got
back from vacation.

Janet Michaud, the shelter supervisor in Mississauga, says that Animal
Servives phoned at least one of the contact numbers after after
Krinkles was brought. They also sent a letter and then hand-delivered
a second letter to the cat owners' door.

Serra said he received the letter when he returned, only to discover
they Krinkles was already dead.

Wojcik says he doubts that Animal Services made a thorough effort to
contact him or his family.

"They didn't do their job," Wojcik said bluntly. "To me someone just
took an easy way out.

"He wasn't euthanized, he was killed," said Serra. He told The News
that he is talking to a lawyer about his legal options.

Michaud said that they couldn't put Krinkles up for adoption because
he was aggressive and wouldn't let people pet him. She refused to
comment on what efforts were made to contact the owners.

"That part is still under investigation," she said. "We still need to
talk to all our staff."

Michaud explained that city by-laws state that after three days,
Animal Services can euthanize a cat if the owners can't be reached.

This policy is necessary because, "over time we get more cats and
(have) less kennel space," she said.

Serra says he wants someone fired for euthanizing Krinkles. He also
wants the rules reviewed when it comes to euthanizing strays.

================================================== ===============================

http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAn...85223-sun.html

A Mississauga couple whose cat was euthanized were further horrified
after being billed by the city's animal shelter for boarding, then
killing Krinkles -- who was microchipped in case he strayed.

In a call to the Sun after Mark Serra and Jolanta Wojcik's loss was
published yesterday, Mississauga Animal Services supervisor Janet
Michaud said the $132.50 fees had been "waived."

But Serra later said "no one called me" to defend destroying the cat
while he and his wife were overseas from Oct. 6-14, or to discuss the
bill, which they got Tuesday.

He claims shelter staff only perfunctorily tried to find Krinkles'
owners, despite emergency numbers on an implanted chip and a collar
tag Wojcik said she paid the shelter to provide in June as part of
their cat's registration.

A probe is underway to determine if staff erred, Michaud said.



'HERE TO REUNITE'

"We want to see if we can do better," she said. "We're not here to
kill people's pets ...we're here to reunite them."

Quiet and happiest outdoors, the almost 2-year-old cat often slept
with their dog and sometimes joined Wojcik in her bath, Serra said,
disagreeing with him being branded fatally "aggressive."

Before they left on vacation, the couple told a housesitting cousin at
their Hurontario St.-QEW area home that Krinkles was "missing, but we
weren't concerned," he said.

Serra said he only learned this week the cat had been turned in to the
Central Parkway W. shelter by a citizen the day before they left.

If a caller had contacted staff to report Krinkles missing before he
was euthanized Oct. 13, the cat would be alive, Michaud said.

Serra said Michaud's signature is on the death warrant he obtained
Monday, after driving to the shelter expecting to fetch Krinkles.

Michaud said a phone message was left Oct. 6 at the couple's home.

Staff also mailed and hand-delivered two letters to Wojcik, the
supervisor said, adding the cat was kept almost twice the time limit
for an impounded pet under a city bylaw.

The hand-delivered notice, dated Oct. 9, warned if Krinkles was not
retrieved by 6 p.m. the next day, he would be city property. It was
the only shelter letter Serra said they got.

The cat's fate was sealed after Michaud said the neutered ex-tomcat
"showed his nails" and swatted at her "when I touched him."

ADOPTION AREA

Her approach was part of a check used to consider placing an animal in
an adoption area where visitors handle them, she said. Not all
impounded pets adapt to shelter life, "and kids want to pick them
up."

Serra plans to find a lawyer: "They can't just brush this under the
rug."

================================================== ======================

http://www.mississauga.com/article/7726

City waives bill in wake of cat-astrophe


Krinkles the cat was put down by Animal Control. EMAIL PRINT

Bookmark/Search this post with:



By: John Stewart

October 18, 2007 - Animal Services will not add invoice to injury
after putting down a city couple's cat while they were on vacation.

Supervisor Janet Michaud says Animal Services will waive the $132.50
bill they sent Mark Serra and his wife Jolanta Wojcik for boarding
Krinkles the cat and euthanizing him.

But that is no comfort to the couple, who are still reeling and
enraged. They say Krinkles was put down after Animal Services made
only a perfunctory effort to reach them.

Krinkles was missing when the the couple left for Poland. Unbeknownst
to them, their pet - an outdoor cat - had been turned in to Animal
Services.

They opened a letter telling them they could pick up their micro-
chipped two-year-old cat from the shelter only after they returned
from Europe a week later - and the cat had already been euthanized.
The shelter said Krinkles was too aggressive to even be offered for
adoption.

Michaud said a phone message was left at the couple's home. Staff also
mailed and hand-delivered two letters to the cat owner's home, the
supervisor said, adding the cat was kept almost twice the time limit
for an impounded pet.

An investigation has been launched by the shelter to determine exactly
what happened.

"We want to see if we can do better," Michaud told The Toronto Sun.
"We're not here to kill people's pets ... we're here to reunite them."

An angry Serra told The News yesterday that Krinkles, "wasn't
euthanized. He was killed."

Meanwhile, Serra is searching for a lawyer to sue the City and says he
wants someone to lose their job for killing his cat.

Michaud explained that city bylaws state that after three days, Animal
Services can euthanize a cat if the owners can't be reached.

This policy is necessary because, "over time we get more cats and
(have) less kennel space."

Serra says he wants someone fired for euthanizing Krinkles. He also
wants the rules reviewed when it comes to euthanizing strays.

No one was taking care of him because he was an outdoor cat.

Well owners, excuse me but my son has two outdoor cats, not by choice but
they seem to want to live on the back porch. He feeds and waters them.
When he has to go to Indianapolis for medical treatment, he makes sure at
least two neighbors, me being one of them, know he will be gone and leaves
food out. I just don't get this going on a vacation and expecting everyone
to watch your pet. I am not saying what the shelter did was right, it
wasn't but in this country it always seems easier to blame someone else for
your troubles.
wrote in message
oups.com...
No one was taking care of him because he was an outdoor cat.

wrote:

It was an outdoor cat, so nobody was in charge of taking care of him.

But an "outdoor" cat microchipped, and with the proper tags!
(And how do you KNOW "nobody was in charge of taking
care of him"? I always had indoor/outdoor catsw when I
lived where I could. I paid a bonded service to come in and
feed them, but that doesn't mean they were always there when
he came! (Although the cats liked the guy, so they
generally showed up for him to play with them.)


http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAn...82732-sun.html

Wed, October 17, 2007

'In a rage' over cat's deathAnimal services put down pet
By IAN ROBERTSON, SUN MEDIA

Mark Serra is angrily bracing to bury his microchipped and tagged cat,
which he claims Mississauga's animal shelter should not have destroyed
after it strayed while he was away.

Serra wants the person responsible fired over the death of Krinkles at
the shelter on Central Parkway W.

Found abandoned and barely alive when he and his wife Jolanta Wojcik
were holidaying in the Turks and Caicos, the kitten was nursed for two
weeks with bottled milk.

'FELL IN LOVE'

"He loved us, that's for sure," Serra, 33, a heating and air
conditioning technican, said yesterday. "I fell in love ... like it
was my own child."



At almost 2 years of age, Krinkles was happiest outdoors, but was
always waiting when Serra came home.

The tiny black cat with white-gray accents often slept with a dog he
and Wojcik, a Toronto travel agency owner, also rescued on the
Caribbean island. But at night, he was in their bed.

When Wojcik had a $45 microchip implanted in June by Mississauga
Animal Services, it included their QEW-Hurontario St. area home
address and phone numbers for them, their parents plus Serra's cell --
which he said was forwarded to a cousin while on a recent one-week
vacation in Europe.

With microchipping and a $20 collar tag also imprinted with family
phone numbers, "I believed if someone found my cat, I'd have no
worries," he said. "But that's not the case."

A letter from the city-run shelter was waiting after they flew home
Oct. 14. It said they had until 6 p.m. Oct. 10 to collect Krinkles,
who had been picked up as a stray, "or he became their property,"
Serra said.

"It looked like a bill, there was no 'urgent' on it," and he said the
cousin, one of two people watching the house, had no reason to open
the envelope. After the shelter reopened Monday, Serra said staff told
him Krinkles had been aggressive and was destroyed, instead of being
offered for adoption.

'EXHAUSTED'

"They had the attitude they had exhausted all their measures, which
they didn't," he said. "They could have called my mom, who loved the
cat, or my wife's parents, but they didn't.

"It's an animal service ... they're supposed to protect them," Serra
said. "I was in a rage."

Too emotional to collect him, when a friend or relative brings
Krinkles to the couple's house, Serra said, "I plan to bury him out in
the backyard and plant a tree."

His wife said her husband was frustrated by no replies from Animal
Services bosses after speaking with an assistant two days ago.
Previous story: Sunflashes

================================================== ==========================================

http://www.mississauga.com/article/7698

Owner threatens lawsuit after cat euthanized


Krinkles snuggles up to her friend, Serra the dog, in this family
photo. Krinkles was euthanized by Mississauga Animal Services on
Saturday and the story has generated national attention. EMAIL
PRINT

Bookmark/Search this post with:



By: Owen Jarus

October 17, 2007 - It was a vacation that Mississauga's Mark Serra
will remember for all the wrong reasons.

The 33-year-old air conditioning specialist and his pregnant wife,
Jolantha Wojcik, left for Poland on Oct. 6 to visit Jolantha's 85-year-
old grandmother.

They left their pet cat, Krinkles, in the care of family members. They
came back to find that Krinkles had been euthanized by Mississauga's
Animal Services workers.

The incident has garnered national attention. Every media outlet from
The Mississauga News to The Toronto Sun, Global News, City TV and the
CBC have all interviews the grieving couple.

The events that led to Krinkles demise are still being unravelled.
What is known is that Animal Services workers picked up Krinkles, who
was an an outdoor cat, while his owners were on vacation.

"We didn't know the cat was missing," said Serra.

Meanwhile, family members spent a week trying to track down the AWOL
cat.

Since Krinkles had been microchipped, and wore a collar with a tag
listing six contact numbers, well, no one worried and everyone
expected their furry feline friend would show up eventually.

Krinkles was euthanized on October 13, a day before the couple got
back from vacation.

Janet Michaud, the shelter supervisor in Mississauga, says that Animal
Servives phoned at least one of the contact numbers after after
Krinkles was brought. They also sent a letter and then hand-delivered
a second letter to the cat owners' door.

Serra said he received the letter when he returned, only to discover
they Krinkles was already dead.

Wojcik says he doubts that Animal Services made a thorough effort to
contact him or his family.

"They didn't do their job," Wojcik said bluntly. "To me someone just
took an easy way out.

"He wasn't euthanized, he was killed," said Serra. He told The News
that he is talking to a lawyer about his legal options.

Michaud said that they couldn't put Krinkles up for adoption because
he was aggressive and wouldn't let people pet him. She refused to
comment on what efforts were made to contact the owners.

"That part is still under investigation," she said. "We still need to
talk to all our staff."

Michaud explained that city by-laws state that after three days,
Animal Services can euthanize a cat if the owners can't be reached.

This policy is necessary because, "over time we get more cats and
(have) less kennel space," she said.

Serra says he wants someone fired for euthanizing Krinkles. He also
wants the rules reviewed when it comes to euthanizing strays.

================================================== ===============================

http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAn...85223-sun.html

A Mississauga couple whose cat was euthanized were further horrified
after being billed by the city's animal shelter for boarding, then
killing Krinkles -- who was microchipped in case he strayed.

In a call to the Sun after Mark Serra and Jolanta Wojcik's loss was
published yesterday, Mississauga Animal Services supervisor Janet
Michaud said the $132.50 fees had been "waived."

But Serra later said "no one called me" to defend destroying the cat
while he and his wife were overseas from Oct. 6-14, or to discuss the
bill, which they got Tuesday.

He claims shelter staff only perfunctorily tried to find Krinkles'
owners, despite emergency numbers on an implanted chip and a collar
tag Wojcik said she paid the shelter to provide in June as part of
their cat's registration.

A probe is underway to determine if staff erred, Michaud said.



'HERE TO REUNITE'

"We want to see if we can do better," she said. "We're not here to
kill people's pets ...we're here to reunite them."

Quiet and happiest outdoors, the almost 2-year-old cat often slept
with their dog and sometimes joined Wojcik in her bath, Serra said,
disagreeing with him being branded fatally "aggressive."

Before they left on vacation, the couple told a housesitting cousin at
their Hurontario St.-QEW area home that Krinkles was "missing, but we
weren't concerned," he said.

Serra said he only learned this week the cat had been turned in to the
Central Parkway W. shelter by a citizen the day before they left.

If a caller had contacted staff to report Krinkles missing before he
was euthanized Oct. 13, the cat would be alive, Michaud said.

Serra said Michaud's signature is on the death warrant he obtained
Monday, after driving to the shelter expecting to fetch Krinkles.

Michaud said a phone message was left Oct. 6 at the couple's home.

Staff also mailed and hand-delivered two letters to Wojcik, the
supervisor said, adding the cat was kept almost twice the time limit
for an impounded pet under a city bylaw.

The hand-delivered notice, dated Oct. 9, warned if Krinkles was not
retrieved by 6 p.m. the next day, he would be city property. It was
the only shelter letter Serra said they got.

The cat's fate was sealed after Michaud said the neutered ex-tomcat
"showed his nails" and swatted at her "when I touched him."

ADOPTION AREA

Her approach was part of a check used to consider placing an animal in
an adoption area where visitors handle them, she said. Not all
impounded pets adapt to shelter life, "and kids want to pick them
up."

Serra plans to find a lawyer: "They can't just brush this under the
rug."

================================================== ======================

http://www.mississauga.com/article/7726

City waives bill in wake of cat-astrophe


Krinkles the cat was put down by Animal Control. EMAIL PRINT

Bookmark/Search this post with:



By: John Stewart

October 18, 2007 - Animal Services will not add invoice to injury
after putting down a city couple's cat while they were on vacation.

Supervisor Janet Michaud says Animal Services will waive the $132.50
bill they sent Mark Serra and his wife Jolanta Wojcik for boarding
Krinkles the cat and euthanizing him.

But that is no comfort to the couple, who are still reeling and
enraged. They say Krinkles was put down after Animal Services made
only a perfunctory effort to reach them.

Krinkles was missing when the the couple left for Poland. Unbeknownst
to them, their pet - an outdoor cat - had been turned in to Animal
Services.

They opened a letter telling them they could pick up their micro-
chipped two-year-old cat from the shelter only after they returned
from Europe a week later - and the cat had already been euthanized.
The shelter said Krinkles was too aggressive to even be offered for
adoption.

Michaud said a phone message was left at the couple's home. Staff also
mailed and hand-delivered two letters to the cat owner's home, the
supervisor said, adding the cat was kept almost twice the time limit
for an impounded pet.

An investigation has been launched by the shelter to determine exactly
what happened.

"We want to see if we can do better," Michaud told The Toronto Sun.
"We're not here to kill people's pets ... we're here to reunite them."

An angry Serra told The News yesterday that Krinkles, "wasn't
euthanized. He was killed."

Meanwhile, Serra is searching for a lawyer to sue the City and says he
wants someone to lose their job for killing his cat.

Michaud explained that city bylaws state that after three days, Animal
Services can euthanize a cat if the owners can't be reached.

This policy is necessary because, "over time we get more cats and
(have) less kennel space."

Serra says he wants someone fired for euthanizing Krinkles. He also
wants the rules reviewed when it comes to euthanizing strays.