Saturday, August 01, 2009

Lebanon Crapola Situation

For gosh sakes. A huge situation in Lebanon caused by a collector has exploded. A woman with about 100 cats supposedly was foreclosed on. I guess most of the cats are not fixed. Now the realtor has called me, wanting me to help him trap them all tomorrow. I said "where will they go?" He thinks they should be euthanized.

I said I don't trap for killing. He said the former owner has said she'll take any she traps to barn homes. I said, "not without getting them fixed first, if I'm involved." He said he would talk to her. He said he'd call back. He hasn't.

This woman called KATA too, last week, and wanted them to help. I guess the woman told them, when the KATA woman asked how she got her personal private cell number, that her husband was friends with the Linn County Animal Control Officer. Huh? How could an animal control officer let a friend slide into that situation? Wouldn't an animal control officer tell him to get those cats fixed and help get it done? Can't be true that they are friends with him.

But if it is true, boy oh man, no wonder we have such a county over run in unfixed cats. If the collector is friends with the Linn County Animal Control Officer, why isn't he helping them?

I didn't know what to tell him. He wants to use my traps, I think, and wants my help trapping. Not if he's going to have them killed. No way. If that's what he is planning, there is no way in hell I'll be a little slave to help someone out to solve his problem because he bought the property by killing cats. Oh my god no.

Why isn't this woman being charged with animal neglect and cruelty? I want to know that.

When I get such calls, I can't even think, makes me sleepless and stressed and I don't know what to do. I think about all those little lives that will be snuffed out, needless too, if they fixed their house cats. Why in the world do people think it's ok not to fix their pets? Neighbors won't help neighbors. "Well, they're not my cats." I can't tell you how often I hear that. I hear it so often I want to puke when I hear it now.

Somebody long ago should have stepped in and told her the truth, "Hey, those cats need fixed. I'll help." Maybe even their alleged friend, the animal control officer. I wonder if that is true, that they are friends with him. Man oh man if it's true. In the end, bottom line, the buck falls at the feet of the cat owners. They neglected a basic duty and as a result, well, there's a whole lot of suffering going on. These aren't cat lovers. Cat lovers fix their pets. And cat lovers fix the strays they feed.

Well, it's after 11:00 and that man didn't call back. I'm glad he didn't. I can't handle something like this. Someone else told me neighbors are setting out poison to kill the cats. That's just a bunch of shit. What happened to compassion? People are so lazy these days. Laziness is apparently a more cherished value than compassion. There's so many lies going on about this situation, I don't know if the poison rumor is true or not. Oh just set out some poison and go to bed, honey. In the night, when its taken, the neighbors sleep through the horror that ensues, the brothers watching sisters go into convulsions and cry in pain, as they die. Then its their turn. Sleep through that you miserable human slobs. You won't sleep as well once settled down in hell for eternity.

UPDATE: Today has been kind of like hell. The realtor guy, who bought the collectors house on auction, has called again. There are so many falsehoods going around. So we have homes for some. The realtor guy promised to contact news stations to try to get a story done, but my feeling about him, at this point, has become negative.

When I found out some homes were available, I left him a message I could trap some more tonight but that there needs to be a donation made. Marilyn of Spay Inc. and Vicki of KATA agreed.

We get these calls all the time. People use emotional blackmail to get their situation fixed for free, without even helping. In other words, I have my doubts he will call the news media.

I finally e-mailed three TV news tiplines, pleading for coverage and the GT. Vicki called some and e-mailed the DH. I have heard from none of the news outlets I tried to contact. Maybe that's because it is Sunday. The only way to find homes for all these cats is through media coverage and for gosh sakes, if she really does have 48 in some garage, that needs checked out. Like I said, this is a law enforcement failure in Linn County.

The police apparently refuse involvement even though it is clearly a law enforcement issue. There's nowhere to turn. This is an ugly situation. KATA has homes lined up for maybe four. The Lacomb woman can hold quite a few, she said, until she locates more barns. But now, the man has not returned the call about trapping tonight. Oh well, one can only offer.

In another bizarre twist, when Marilyn took four more in traps, the collector brought her this morning, the collector claimed I had vowed to take in all the sick ones. I don't even know this woman and have never talked to her. Where in the world would she get that idea? So there's a whole lot of lying going on and I am severely stressed by all these calls I keep getting on it.

My feeling is pretty clear. I will trap when there are homes to take them to. Now there are some homes, but the man who owns the property hasn't returned my call about allowing me on the property to trap. So, not much more I can do. I need to find a way to de=stress now and take care of myself. I'm going nuts over this and so many other situations. I'm one person for gosh sakes. There are only three people who have reluctantly offered to help (I say "reluctant" because we're the usual suspects, always called to solve things at our own expense and we're overwhelmed and overworked and not paid at all): Me, Vicki of KATA and Marilyn in Lacomb. We're private people, unfunded, so there you have it.

Update: I'm out of this situation. The man calls outraged that I should request a donation for help, claims he's just trying to make a living and now claims not to own the property but to be the legal representative of this collector and needs to dispose of these cats.

I said I have no idea what that means. He claims he called me late last night only to rent live traps from me. But that was not at all the impression he left me with last night, that he wanted my trap and my help and was I free today. I tried to babble in defense of myself and all the little people involved, unpaid, overwhelmed in calls like his.

But he was yelling at me, demanding I not yell at him. I can't take this abuse anymore, and I am out. I hung up on him, because I was breaking down into hysterical sobbing. I am not psychologically equipped to deal with such people and such differing stories so that I have no idea what is actually going on over there, or who is telling the truth.

Who does he work for, a realtor or this collector? I don't have any idea. I don't want to know. There is a breakdown in Linn County of any services available, so it thrown on the backs of beleagured volunteers. With that many cats at one house, it is a law enforcement issue. So where are they? The news should be all over it. But I'm getting no responses from anybody. I do not know what is going on.

All I ever wanted to do was help cats. I really should have known it would be this way, that people are vicious, out for themselves, and especially the population that doesn't fix their cats. It is a good sign of whether a person is mentally stable or not. If their pets are not fixed, usually there is something really wrong in that household. I'm stressed over this. Marilyn said she couldn't sleep last night over it and Vicki of KATA couldn't either. That isn't right. I changed my answering message to state I am not currently available for trapping/fixing and transporting owned cats to be fixed. I am taking a long break. I will get the kittens fixed I have here, for sure, try to find as many cats homes as I can, and I feel terrible that I can't handle this anymore, but I can't right now and there's no sense sacrificing myself, doesn't help any cats.

As for the users and abusers of Linn County, who ask/demand and give nothing back, fuck you. That goes for my pathetic stalker too. I'm checking out! Margaritaville!

4 comments:

  1. I know I don't know you, but I really feel for what you're going through. Sounds like you're constantly picking up the pieces of the selfish majority of society. The problem is so big that it's impossible to tackle it without a whole army of people so you're left constantly being disappointed with a broken heart for these defenseless animals. I guess all you can do is spread awareness and try to expand your team and know that as hard as it is to live with the fact that no matter how much you do there's always, always more to be done, you're obviously doing a great thing and even if you change one person's perspective or help one cat, that really is an achievement. And also sorry to hear about this stalker woman. I'd definitely recommend keeping a record of everything that goes on and file a case with the police to begin with and take further action if necessary. People like that shouldn't be allowed out in the community.

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  2. Thats what i said about the stalker, Jody, she needs to be slapped with a restraining order - and you need to start documenting the stalking in order to get one. I honestly can't wait till I get down to visit with you - I promise I'll put all those selfish assholes in their places....I;m quite good at that - just ask my husband! Here's a suggestion - take a small break - take three, four days off. On your answering machine, state that you don't do any trapping Sunday thru Wednesday - something like that. Folks can call back on thursday. You are dealing with this 24/7 and its not helping you; therefore, it can't be helping those who need your help the most - the cats. When someone tries to use emotional blackmail, you just gotta toss it right back at them, as much as it might kill you to do so. Call their bluff, which most of the time it is. They know your love of cats - if you hear - oh well, we're just going to set out poison and that will take care of those excess unwanted cats - your response - do that, and i'll check the next day and if i see one dead cat i'll take it in for an autopsy and if poison is involved i'll have you charged with cruelty to animals - you can join Mike vicks. (they don't know if or if you have any "legal bearings" in these cases - act as if you do). If you find yourself starting to yell, or cry, tell someone - I can't talk now, I will call you back when I am calm - this way, you take some control. I can give you more if you'd like. I know its hard to think of this stuff when it is occuring, so you need to practice - role play - even with one of your cats. try it.

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  3. Well I'm hiring you Jeanne as my body guard/pitbull. I really am not good at dealing with people who are lying and using emotional blackmail.'

    When I asked for a donation, this man then tells me he does not own the property nor work for the owner of the property. That turned out to be an outright lie. He does work for the owner of the property. Here's the real big lie. He told me she had 48 cats in her house alone and that didn't count the outside ones. There were far fewer. In fact, I went and helped KATA trap just 13, with 8 to go, and the woman herself had already removed another 13. It will be about a 35 cat situation. And yes, the woman knows John Adair, the Linn county Animal Control officer. So I asked her why didn't he help out long ago. "Well, at least he gave me your numbers," she said. I said "That isn't helping, that's a public servant referring you to a group of older women with no money to do a job he gets very well paid to do, with benefits." Then we all had a really long laugh over useless public servants.

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  4. hey you don't have to hire me - i volunteer!! when i come down give me all those toughies and i'll deal with them. I have a permanent suit of armour on. Nothing bugs me -e specially when i'll be leaving a week later hohoho....

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