This is where the kittens were dumped.
Watch a video of the expedition to find the third kitten below: 
A lot of this goes on up there.
The saved. Her brother was not so lucky.A Sweet Home couple, who enjoy driving logging roads, called in a report of seeing cats, way out in the middle of nowhere above Marcola. Since no one in Eugene seemed willing to go help them, Vicki of KATA asked me if I would go with her, since it is an extremely remote area, and the logging roads can be confusing.
So this evening, after I got my car back from the shop, I met her in Crawfordsville and we went on up and met a Springfield woman, who, with her children, had been up there trying to find the spot and the kittens. Just before she came down off the mountain to meet us, to take us up, she caught the little calico.
The initial report was of two white calicos kittens seen by a mudhole. The mudholes are created by four wheelers, up there tearing everything up in monster pickups and four wheel drives. Although no shooting signs are posted everywhere, a lot of shooting and teen partying goes on up there, too, in various spots. The quarry, half way up, was the scene of a drunken shooting a couple months ago, between two target shooting parties. And, the very top is a hotspot for hang gliders, a jump off spot because of the cliff. It's redneck heaven, in other words.
And it's beautiful.
It is extremely remote, however, and to take kittens that far into the middle of nowhere, to dump them out like trash takes a certain breed of monster.
The little calico caught was so skinny it was sad. Cherie's elderly mother actually spotted the dead little white male along the road, not far from where Cherie had just trapped his sister. But was there another up there or had the old couple, the only people to claim to see two calicos, been mistaken and instead seen the white male and the calico now caught and safe? We didn't know for sure and may never know for sure. WE followed Cherie into the woods because she had to leave and take her mother home. We were up there for hours with half a dozen traps set. We saw nothing.
Cherie was the only person of the Eugene cat people crowd willing to act, I guess. The Talking Heads just talked, for two days I guess, on message boards and e-mail lists about it, according to people in this area, who are on the same list. But nobody did anything. That's why Vicki finally decided "enough" and went down clear from Sweet Home. She didn't want to go alone, so called me. I'm not on the lists and had not heard of the situation. In honor of Cherie's "Action Hero" work to save this calico, and because she even had to rent traps to bring, I gave her one of my traps, as a gift. I know she will put it to good use.
It is not safe to be up there alone at night, so we all left just as dark was setting in. I stopped between Brownsville and Lebanon and hurriedly picked up six cats from a woman waiting on me to arrive.
Wish I knew some men, who'd like to camp out all night up there, and check some traps periodically, for the third kitten, the second calico, if she exists--men with guns preferably, since there are too many drinking men with guns who frequent that area, therefore it isn't really safe for anyone else.
I know what I would like to call people like that as well! More than monsters!
ReplyDeleteThis is my short break and I was thinking while hearing you say over and over again you and Cherie were "in the middle of nowhere" that it looked not much unlike where I grwew up. I guess I grew up in the middle of no where, lol
To be fair, where I lived WAS not urban but one could drive to an urban area in about 20 minutes.
I hope someone finds that other calico if s/he exists!
I would reply to a couple of entries in your blog, and these are not meant to be disrespectful, just another point of view.
ReplyDelete"Since no one in Eugene seemed willing to go help them"
I think it would be fair to state that, No one in Eugene seemed ABLE to go help them. You don't know the situation that everyone is in who knew about this.
"Although no shooting signs are posted everywhere, a lot of shooting and teen partying goes on up there,"
Yes there are alot of no shooting signs....in designated areas. Other areas are fine to target shoot in. I have been going for years and will grant not everyone follows the rules!
"It's redneck heaven, in other words."
Yes there are a lot of "rednecks" that frequent the area, but always are we rednecks. Most of rednecks to be watched for come up at night. Which as you stated is not safe anyone really, at night.
Again, I thank all who help in the animal world, doing what we can, saving and rescuing from those who mistreat them.
Irish, you're you are expressing another point of view. I'm not a PC person and never will be. I say what I think. There are shells and shotgun casings within twenty feet of the no shooting signs. When I use the term redneck, I am talking about a specific group of people---pickup, often four wheeler, mud lovers, guns, beer. I have lots of redneck friends. What is not safe, is when rednecks, beer and guns get together as a threesome. You don't want to be anywhere near that sort of threesome. Throw in a languishing country song that brings back memories of love lost, with a handy gun, while intoxicated.....just don't want near that. Not safe. I have been a redneck, for periods of time in my life.
ReplyDeleteI am glad the Springfield woman went up to help. Some of the Eugene crowd do lots of talking about helping animals, that's for sure. Good for them on that. Vicki came all the way from Sweet Home to help, and gets up to go to work the next at 5:00 a.m. I have great respect for her.
It is really really beautiful up there Siobhan. And standing on the top of that bluff, where hang gliders jump off, at least someone said they do from there, it's just gorgeous! I wouldn't have said that so often, because it really isn't that far from Marcola, about seven miles up some logging roads, but it to take kittens that far into just sheer wilderness, was astounding to me, that someone would do that, giving them no chance, and ensuring a horrible slow death. Seems like an extra added type of cruelty, I suppose as opposed to those who just dump them along a well traveled rural road. But another rescuer told me she once cleaned house for an Albany truck driver who would steal or trap neighborhood owned cats then take them out on his truck routes which included eastern Oregon, and dump them out in the desert. Talk about one mean man. She did write them a note, because they fancied themselves Christians, ending with What Would Jesus Do, but she quit there, because she knew she was going to be fired for confronting him over abusing animals.
ReplyDeleteHow old is the one that you caught?
ReplyDeleteThe little calico, caught by the Springfield woman up there is about four months, I'd say. Vicki, of KATA, has her right now. She was skin and bones.
ReplyDeleteI let a few of the geocachers I know who might be in that area this weekend to be on the lookout and to call me if they see any cats. I asked a couple of them to bring some canned smelly food with them just in case they see one and can leave the food and see if they can lure it out or at least give it something to sustain it. I'll let you know if they see any others.
ReplyDelete