Pet Owners Outraged After Cat Euthanized While They’re Away
Posted October 17, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Mississauga couple is fuming after their pet cat was put to sleep by a local animal shelter while they were away on vacation.
Krinkles (pictured) was taken to Mississauga Animal Services last week, when he was found roaming the streets. But his vacationing owners came home to find out their favourite feline had died at the hands of shelter workers.
“He was our family. He slept with us every night, you know what I mean?” said grieving owner Mark Serra.
When Serra arrived home from his trip, he wasn’t greeted by his beloved cat but rather a letter from Animal Services saying it caught their cat and euthanized it. And to add insult to injury, they billed him for their trouble for $132.50.
“For impound fee, boarding fee, surrender fee, service fee, and goods and services for killing the animal,” he angrily notes.
The letter claims that the tabby was picked up October 10th but the family didn’t return home from their vacation until the 14th.
They claim the cat should have never been put to sleep since it had an I.D. tag and was microchipped.
Animal Services said they called one of the many contact numbers, but after three days they put Krinkles down because he was acting too aggressively. “We feel terrible,” said spokesperson Janet Michaud. “We know that this was someone’s pet. Unfortunately the cat didn’t adapt to being here. We weren’t able to find him a new home.”
Animal Services has agreed to waive the bill, but Serra says it’s not good enough for a family now mourning their cat.
“Those people as far as I’m concerned have no heart,” he concludes.
