What are your thoughts? I’d be interested to have your ideas as to why cats like Marina
http://www.survivefrance.com/group/petrescue/forum/topics/marina-you-must-see-the-cat
are handed into the local pound to be put to sleep?
Just today, we at Chats du Quercy have had a call from a distraught lady who is trying to cope with her neighbours 15 plus cats as the neighbour has moved, leaving them all to fend for themselves! As far as we can gather, they are all un-neutered too!
If we could pin-point some ideas, maybe we can alleviate a few of these problems?
Photo attached of
Bonnie, an adorable cat left in a cardboard box in a garden with her 5 kittens, all extremmely friendly and obviously domesticated cats.
3 Kittens found by the side of a busy road, how cowardly is that?
A news report on UK TV also has shown this is still a problem there too. The only difference is the infra-structure there to pick up the peices! They have the RSPCA, Blue Cross, Cat Protection etc etc and more importantly, the authorities take them a bit more seriously!
Thank you! Oh we miss that cat (his name was Domino)…
Yes - what an adorable pair!
Both just as cute I think, lovely photo!!
And I just have to throw this one up. This is a much-loved cat we had before Minouche. This was my younger daughter’s cat. We were devastated when he died. Such a sweet personality. We picked him up at the shelter in Clichy. This is, I think, one of the best pictures I have of when we were living in Passy - hard to tell who is cuter the Frenchling or the cat 
You took your cats all those places?
Bravo!
We just did a Paris-Tokyo-Versailles trip and that was… something.
But I’m with you - couldn’t just leave them behind. They’re part of the family.
We actually have a second cat named Tatou. He’s cuter than Minouche but not as smart
Our own charity Chats du Quercy operates a No-Kill policy and will never put a cat to sleep except for medical reasons.
However, we have very limited space and have to turn away many, many cats every year.
I also think that if it was obligatory to microchip an animal then at least owners could be traced of those genuinely lost animals and those whose owners have abandonned them, could be taken to justice. The french government are trying to bring in this kind of obligation and we should know more soon, it could come into operation as soon as September 2011, but I just wonder how it will be policed?
I have tried to google some information in English about the No-Kill Animal Shelters in Germany, but only find a contribution from another Cat Forum:
Quote:
Originally Posted by ckblv
Quote:
Actually, there is such an animal shelter, at least outside the U.S… Germany’s public and private shelters are all no-kill. As a result, there are problems with overcrowding, especially during kitten season, and “permanent residents”. Some animals have to be traded among shelters (I spent five hours on the road last Friday due to our shelter trading five male brown tabbies for three older Persians and two one-eyed red tabbies).
Many of the German “länder” have outlawed several “dangerous” dog breeds, and the result has been that a lot of pitbulls and the like are now serving “life sentences” in shelters.
Obviously, there are pros and cons. (End of article)
I somehow naivly believed that all animal shelters in Europe worked like this, until I learned otherwise…
Lucky Minouche! I am sure she couldn’t have found a better home! Our cats were also always very well travelled. They moved with us to South Africa, USA, Germany and France. We could have never ever imagined leaving them behind!
“for some people pets are just disposable matter…”
Yes, and that really is the crux of the matter. I haven’t heard of no-kill shelters, Regina. Can you say more? In my experience the ones in the US and France will eventually put them down if they can’t find someone to adopt. That was what happened with Minouche, THE ugliest (and I say this with love) cat alive. Let’s give the shelter people credit because they steered us right to her. She’s too old, they said. Not really a cute kitten anymore. Not terribly attractive. From her behaviour though, she came from a loving family where she was used to being fed at the table by children. Nice manners. Has this engaging habit where she burrows her face into the crook of your arm. I fell in love and said to my husband, “I want that one.” Poor cat, after a few years in Paris we hauled her off to Tokyo (you would not believe the condition they were in after the flight from Paris). And then we hauled them back to Versailles a few years later. Now she has a garden to play in and a big house to roam in. She is STILL the ugliest cat alive but she is so ugly she’s beautiful…
The only reason why cats like Marina are just handed into the local pound to be put to sleep can only be that for some people pets are just disposable matter. They are not able to develop any relationship with an animal. Luckily, Marina was not just abandoned in the woods but taken to a safe haven. Every year, when the big summer holidays start, we have collected mainly young cats who got dumped in our neighbourhood by people who had grown tired of them and didn’t want to be bothered anymore. We live in a suburb of Lyon with a lot of green around it. People seem to think that their cats will be able to look after themselves there, catch mice, rats and birds etc. I cannot possibly imagine how anybody can possibly do something like this to your trusting and faithful friend. These people have absolutely no conscience, otherwise they wouldn’t sleep at night anymore!
The more Southern you go in Europe, the worse animals get treated and unfortunately this starts already here in France.
In my native Germany, only no-kill shelters exist and no vet is legally allowed to put a pet down unless there is a medical reason for it.
My .02? Because 99% of the time people are cruel and ignorant. Makes you want to channel Peter Singer. I say only 99% of the time because one of our cats, Minouche, was left at the pound by a Libyan family who were deported and so they couldn’t take her with them. I’d say that that wasn’t their fault…