More than 80 kittens abandoned on California shelter doorstep over the past 12 months

I have wondered how many cats and kittens are abandoned at animal shelters in America. We know it happens quite a lot because we see news media articles about cardboard boxes filled with kittens, sealed with tape, and placed outside a shelter's front door in the dead of winter, overnight. The whole thing is ghastly but it happens. The kittens are lucky to survive. Such callousness and stupidy.

The employees at the Animal Friends Connection Humane Society, in Lodi, USA, estimate that more than 80 kittens have been left at their doorstep within the past year. Over a period of nine days last summer 25 cats and kittens were left at their shelter at 933 S. Cherokee Lane.

Abandoned kitten at Lodi animal shelter. Photo: the shelter.

I went to their Facebook page to see whether there are any postings about abandoned cats and kittens. There are reams of them. They go back several years but for example, on September 10, 2017 they posted that "Another urgent SOS for help with abandoned bottle baby kittens left on our front door, these babies need your urgent care. We desperately need help for five kittens. They were cold, starving, wet and possibly only 10 days old."

And then more recently on August 8, 2020, they posted:

"Again-5 big kittens crammed into a small tub filled with other 'stuff', abandoned on our side yard - left in the sun when no one was around. Thankfully, someone did see it and got to them before they perished in the heat today - they were very lucky little kitties. We are overwhelmed currently with kitties."

I could go on but I needn't bother because there is a series of posts along the same lines from this animal shelter. And kittens seem to be a recurring theme. It doesn't take much imagination to realise that a minority of cat owners are allowing their female cats to mate and procreate. These are the cats that haven't been spayed and which are allowed to go outside where they bump into a male cat who has not been sterilised and bingo, you have a family.

Either that or they informally breed cats inside their home but I would doubt that because if they were doing it they would probably give them away to friends and neighbours et cetera. These are unwanted kittens brought into the world because of a careless approach to domestic cat caregiving. These people place a heavy burden on small animal shelters such as this one in Lodi - location as per map below.

Lodi shelter has constant stream of abandoned kittens. Map: Google.

They are constantly seeking donations. They succeed but it must be a struggle. On September 3, 2018 they received six adult abandoned cats and they sought donations. 22 people donated a total of $590. I think that's very good. There are clearly lots of generous people in the area. It's a great shame that the good and generous people have to fund an operation to mop up the damage done by the selfish and careless people. Perhaps it was always like that.

Associated: 31 cats abandoned in wooded area of Monroe County, PA. They were left with open bags of food but no water.