So the humane society just down the road that I frequently volunteer at was broken in to on Friday night (the 12th). By a pit bull that someone just dropped off in the middle of the night (plopped the thing over the fence. Totally against the law, btw) and the thing broke into the cat area, wounded a few, and killed five. I am heartbroken over this.
The cats who died were Polly (who I called Buddha-cat/Mercedes), Willie, Ozzie, Raven, and Meredith. I'm not even going to use emoticons in this journal to try and describe how heart broken I am over the deaths of these wonderful, sweet, loving, and brave cats. They would not do my feelings justice.
They did not all die quickly, and from the looks of things, they died because one couldn't get out, one was too weak to do too much fighting back, and the other three died protecting the other cats and trying to fight off this horrid dog.
I was very close to Meredith and Raven, and fairly close to Polly and Ozzie (Ozzie had just been released from several months stay in "cat medical" the day before). I will admit I did not know Willie.
I had heard that there had been a dog abandoned at the shelter, and that he had broken into the cat room, but I didn't know anymore than that until the next day when I came to see the damage. Walking up there was horrible. Things were quiet, none of the cats were out in the sunning area (a screened-in porch), and soon it was obvious why. The screen was ripped up completely on one side, and none of the blankets and cushions were out.
I went inside and ran into a woman who also works with the cats, and she about cried the moment she saw me. She explained to me that not only were there many cats missing, but five had been killed. When she told me their names, I just sort of crumpled into Myles and cried my eyes out. Raven, Meredith. My poor, sweet darlings. I am still grieving (as dramatic as that sounds).
They won't do anything to the pit bull, as they are a no-kill shelter, but it really makes me angry at whoever it was who abandoned this dog. The pound is a few miles up the road for crying out loud! You could have abandoned the thing there! Just because the humane society is full does not make it ok to go and abandon a dog in the middle of the night!
Sigh... I'll stop ranting now. I'm just very hurt, very sad, and very angry.
I need a hug.