AR-News: (MI) Abandonments soar, leaving too many cats to face 1 of 2 fates: living on st

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

December 3, 2003 
BY KIM NORTH SHINEShe was told there was no room for more cats and that she 
should look for a shelter in her hometown of Detroit. 
As she drove away, the woman tossed the crate with the cats onto the road at 
the parking lot exit, feet from a busy intersection. 
Such abandonments are becoming more common, shelter operators say, as cats 
overrun shelters, taking up every last bit of cage space and then some. The 
crowded conditions are forcing shelters to turn away felines, kill them at faster 
rates and figure out new ways to find homes in order to clear out cages for 
the never-ending procession of new arrivals. 
The Michigan Humane Society's Detroit shelter won't turn away cats, but will 
expedite lethal injections in order to free up cages. There, the cat 
population is up about 1,500 cats from January to October compared with the same period 
last year, spokeswoman Nancy Gunnigle said. 
All three Michigan Humane Society shelters took in 22,452 cats last year. The 
Dearborn Animal Shelter's cat population was at 204 Tuesday, up 150 from last 
year, executive director Elaine Greene said. 

FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER 
On a chilly, late-November morning a woman walked into the Dearborn Animal 
Shelter to give up two pets, a new mother cat and its kitten. 




full story:
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/cats3_20031203.htm


"To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only 
legitimate hope of survival." -Wendell Berry 
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