Last summer, an anonymous man was out for a walk when he stumbled across something rather peculiar. The familiar streetscape looked the same except for one major detail— someone had left a cat in a carrier in the middle of the street, and the animal was surrounded by all of its belongings.
As the man approached the blue carrier, he could hear the cat meowing inside. To the passerby, it seemed like the fluffball had recently been abandoned not too long ago. Approaching the animal to examine it, the man heard a random noise. As he turned, he observed a male figure leaving a cat tree before quickly walking away.
The weather on this day was particularly hot, and the man knew he couldn’t just leave the cat there with no place to go. He wanted to take it in himself, but his building had a no-pet policy. Not knowing what to do, he contacted the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, a UK Animal Rescue Charity.
“As he had to get to work, we arranged for the man to get the train to Canning Town and one of our rescue workers met him at the station to collect [the cat],” Celia Hammond told The Dodo.
Once the abandoned kitty had safely been transferred to the Celia Hammond Animal Trust, rescuers scanned for a microchip, discovering that his name was Marcus. And despite being left in the heat, the fluffy kitty appeared to be doing just fine.
Although The Dodo does not provide an update on Marcus, his page is no longer listed on the Celia Hammond Trust website, a likely sign that he has been adopted by a loving family. Although the man who found Marcus was not able to take him in, the stranger did say he wanted to visit the cat once he had found his forever home.
Unfortunately, Marcus is just one of the many animals that get abandoned each and every day.
In the United States, the abandonment of a domesticated pet is considered a crime. Still, however, ABC News says the consequences for these types of actions are lax, earning only “misdemeanor charges, a fine, and perhaps up to a year in jail.”
Regarding the issue, Daphna Nachminovitca, director of PETA’s Animal Issues & Abuse Department told ABC News, “Anyone who abandons a dog or cat who’s been depending on them for veterinary care, for food and for shelter has to know that there’s a possibility the animal is going to be seriously harmed or suffer a slow, painful death through starvation and dehydration, and they should be held accountable.”
Do you think there should be stricter consequences for people who abandon their animals?
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