Riverside County told a woman with a neonatal kitten to put him back on the street

This news comes from one of my favourite animal advocates, Nathan Winograd, in the United States who is the founder and campaigner of the No Kill shelter policy saving many thousands of lives.

He has reported on Riverside County Department of Animal Services. He has described their actions as "obscene". He is correct.

He said that last week Riverside County "told a woman who found a neonatal kitten - with his eyes not yet open - to put him back on the street. She left in tears. That kitten was entitled the foster care and then a loving home. And as obscene as Riverside County's policies, they are not alone."

Comment: I'm shocked. It's completely unthinkable but it happened.

Mr Winograd also reports on Orange County Animal Care. He says that they are doing the same thing. He cites another example. Here it is, in his words.

"For example, when a pregnant cat showed up in the yard of a Good Samaritan and then gave birth, the woman did what she thought was responsible: allowed the kittens to nurse and then wean before taking them all — mama and kittens — to the shelter.

Shelter staff told her to return the feline family to where she had found them."

Remarkable. Apparently the woman explained to them that the female cat might not have a home. She didn't have a collar or tag and was pregnant when she was found. The kittens had no home to go to because they weren't born. The staff at the Orange County shelter still turned her away telling her "to release them back on the street".

As I said, remarkable. Callous. Insensitive. This cannot be right.

These rescue cats deserved a lot better. Sometimes it is applicable to put cats back on the street where they came from if there are unsocialised and not lost and reasonably healthy and sometimes cared for by TNR volunteers. But when cats are socialised, lost and unclaimed then they deserve to be found a home via a rescue center. The two organisations referred to did not discharge their duties.

These are my views and the views of Nathan Winograd. Different people have different views including of course these shelters referred to. I respect those views but strongly disagree with them in this instance.

----------

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.