A man left his cat in a cage at the entrance of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (SRPA) in Anderlecht and fled the scene. This unexpected behavior was captured on video surveillance cameras recently installed at the shelter. The footage shows the owner’s apparent insensitivity towards the feline. The Veeweyde shelter team tried to locate the man but he had already left. The cat, a vaccinated, chipped and one-year-old European tabby, was taken in by the shelter and placed under observation. The team noticed that the cat was stressed and timid, probably due to the new environment and unfamiliar faces. It is disappointing that the owner did not approach the shelter to discuss the reasons behind his act. The shelter would have been willing to understand and possibly provide assistance if needed.
An abandonment at the door of the refuge! A man abandoned his cat in its cage at the entrance to the premises of the Royal Society for the Protection of Animals (SRPA) in Anderlecht, before fleeing. A behavior that surprised the Veeweyde teams. The act was filmed by video surveillance cameras, installed recently. In the screenshots that we were able to obtain, we can distinguish the apparent insensitivity of the master at the time of his act.
We tried to catch up with the master…
We are Tuesday, March 28, in the morning. The shelter is open. And yet, the owner of the little feline preferred to drop him off at the entrance, on the sly…
“It is between the two entrance doors that this person has deposited the transport cage. Then she headed for the parking lot and the street to flee“, says Ludivine Nolf, the spokeswoman for the Veeweyde refuge. “It was parked further down the street. It was most certainly intentional, to prevent anyone from recognizing his license plate. When our shelter teams saw the images on the surveillance screens, one of our collaborators tried to catch up with the person. But it was too late… This act is surprising. It’s a bit like this animal was a clandestine deposit“
The shelter obviously took in this cat. He is one year old, he is a European tabby. He was vaccinated, chipped, placed under observation… His arrival at the shelter is recent. No wonder to see him prostrate in his basket and trembling…”He is stressed, because arriving in a shelter means new smells, noises, a familiarization to undertake with the animal keepers. And then, everyone here doesn’t know what this cat went through because its owner didn’t want to come to our services, to tell us the story of the cat.“
An approach that would perhaps have allowed the teams to understand a possible situation of distress of the master, financial or health and therefore to authorize the collection of the cat on an exceptional basis.
Abandoning an animal is never acceptable, and the recent behavior of this cat’s former owner is especially concerning. Despite the Veeweyde teams’ efforts to catch up with the owner, there is no excuse for abandoning an animal at the shelter’s door. While the shelter has taken in the cat and provided it with necessary care, it’s distressing to see an animal experiencing the shock and uncertainty that result from being surrendered. We hope that this story serves as a reminder to all pet owners of the responsibility and commitment that comes with owning an animal.