Those criminals at Purr-fect Kitty

[Masked avenger]

I can't seem to find out what's happening with the Purr-fect kitty "Rescue" animal abuse case.

What's going on with this? These idiot women are allowed to mistreat and neglect animals - all the time taking money for them - and even kill them and leave their dead bodies in a freezer and nothing happens?

They were arrested in February. I know things move slowly, but surely it's time they were brought to justice??

[Not a redneck]

I haven't heard anything either, and i've been watching the news. I can't believe they could get away with what they did. No punishment could be bad enough for these people who prayed on peoples love of animals and then mis-treated them so badly. I know they will answe rto a higher power some day, but I'd like to see them punished as much as the law allows. I hope someone has news about this, because I sure don't.

[Erin]

I would love to see an update on this too. I wonder if the Gaffney Ledgar has any plans to run any future stories on the case. I don't feel like enough facts were given in the first place ...

[Commonsense]

As someone who was/is involved in the process of getting these people convicted, I can say that pretty much the full story did come out in the papers. It is clear to me that these two women - along with several volunteer helpers - were in business to take advantage of people who needed to find homes for their cats, for one reason or another.

It is my understanding that they set up their business in a building in the center of town which had been donated to them. This building had many code violations, such as a leaking roof and no central heating.
The center of town is not zoned for animal rescue centers.

Their neighbor businesspeople filed several complalints about them, relating to horrible smells and suspected mistreatment of the animals.

When I visited them, I smelled the place by the time I was ten feet from the closed door. Inside, cats and kittens who were obviously ill were all roaming around at will. This is not a natural way to keep cats, and it was clear to me they were all under a great deal of stress.

When the police raided the place, they found many bags of used kitty litter, many dead cats in a freezer, and quite a few cats who were so sick they had to be put down immediately.

It is my understanding that in several cases, owners who thought they had left their cats at Purr-fect Kitty while they were on vacation later tried to get them back and were told they were "dead" when they were not, and/or were denied access to their cats.

These women - who were full of excuses when they were arrested - charged a whopping fee to people who wanted to leave cats with them. Then they provided substandard care while the cats were with them. They advertised all over the internet, and they charged a huge adoption fee. In other words, they spent almost no money taking care of the cats, but the cats certainly made a lot of money for them.

The last I heard, the women had requested a jury trial, which is their right under the law. I have no idea why any lawyer would recommend such a thing, though. Are they likely to find 12 people who are going to say "Oh, dead cats in the freezer? No problem."

I know the wheels of justice grind slowly, but these women have to be punished.

[Erin]

Commonsense thanks for giving a recap of the story.

[mel]

Get A Life and Get Over it!!! You are griping about something that happened over 9 months ago. d**n look at the present....the Cherokee Humane Society is the one you should be focused on...No Heat, No A/C and only fed and watered M - F when the officials are there. So take all that energy that you seem to have and do something about our "Humane" Society Today!!! Oh by the way you must be one of those judgemental people who don't have a life and believe everything in the paper and news..You'll learn one day I also want to comment on the freezer (duh..what do you expect them to do with deceased animals...leave them to rot in the cage? What do you think they do with our bodies until the funeral and burial!!!) Amen!!!!

[Commonsense]

I actually don't believe everything I read in the papers. I am also intimately involved in this case. My knowledge is first-hand, and I have no vested interest in telling anything but the truth about what I experienced. It was ghastly, horrible. But the only thing worse would be if these women were not prosecuted. There is enough real animal abuse and neglect happening in this country, and it sickened me greatly when I saw people profiting from it.

I don't know about the animal shelter. I am not involved with it, but if you think it's a bad thing maybe you should take some action. Even if you're right, the evil that one person (or agency) does doesn't deflect from the evil of another agency. One nasty mess at a time. And Purr-fect Kitty is a nasty mess.

[mel]

I don't like to get into nasty arguments with people, but I just have a question...If you were so intamately involved then why don't you know what the status of the case is??? Also you would know that it was actually one woman involved in running the rescue. The others were just volunteers there trying to help clean. I know for a fact the other woman "Amber" worked a full-time position and a part-time position as a second job could only go when she wasn't working (which wasn't alot because of her career). She worked her butt off everytime she could because of her love for animals. I heard straight from her mouth that she walked in the door played with the kittens and started cleaning then left. She didn't have any dealings with adoption, funds, etc. If there were things not being done correctly you can't blame her too or you would need to prosecuted all volunteers, and the community that came in the rescue to clean, donate, etc. I understand where you are coming from because people's views and comments are always going to differ but look into it a little closer and you will find that there are more pieces of this puzzle that hasn't been exposed. I myself know Amber personally and I am not just taking her side just for that but I believe most troubles were caused from the Harmon lady even though in her heart she meant well. Amber was emotionally distressed over this situation because she had rescued a blind and partially deaf kitten by her house and brought it to the rescue to save her and then come to find out the Humane Society put her to sleep immediately because of her disablilities. Amber also had no control of how many cats there were in the rescue because she wasn't there during the day when the other lady was there taking them in. I can remember a story she told me that she walked in one day and didn't recongnize about 4 new cats that had come in on one day and made the comment that "something's got to stop, we've got too many" but I'm sure it was heartbreaking when someone brought a stray to drop off and not take it in (knowing what would happend if they took it to the humane society)

I truley believe it got too big too fast and got out of control. I do no think that any harm was intentially done on the cats. You always hear horror stories of people starving, beating, kicking their animals and that was not done at this rescue. Now I'm not saying that there weren't other things that should have been takien care of. I don't want to bad mouth to anyone, I just want to help the community understand the situation for what I am hearing straight from the horse's mouth. If there are any criminals it should only be 1. God Bless!!!

[Commonsense]

I never met Amber, but I do know she was arrested along with "the other woman." You seem to be sincere in your belief that Amber was a kind, good-hearted individual who truly cared about the welfare of animals.

All I can say is that NO ONE who walked into that place could have had the slightest doubt that those animals were being neglected. Neighboring businesses complained about the horrible smells without even having set foot inside! And I do know that many of the cats that were there were obviously ill. This is borne out by the medical reports on the animals after the place was raided and shut down.

The point has been made that the freezer is the best place for dead cats. I would say that 30 dead cats - no matter where their bodies ended up - is cause for great concern and alarm. How did the 30 cats die? The place hadn't even been open that long.

This woman was taking huge amounts of money from the people who dropped the cats off with her. She was keeping them in an unheated, condemned building, in an open population which included sick cats. Then she was turning around and selling them to whoever came along. She was doing NOTHING for the cats. It was all about her and her greed.

Since I was personally involved in all this, I know these things to be facts. Until I hear that the case is closed, I can't say a whole lot more.

Perhaps you and I will agree to disagree. That's fine. That's why we have a legal system. The courts will decide. And if for some reason the courts drop the ball, she will answer to a much higher authority at the appointed time, as each of us does.