Cats dumped at protection society

Amy R. Spurgeon

NEWPORT BEACH -- An unidentified cab dumped four loaded cat

carriers off in the parking lot of the National Cat Protection Society

Tuesday afternoon.

“I can’t believe a taxicab driver would do something like that and not

report it,” said the center’s coordinator Karen Christianson. “That is a

misdemeanor if you are caught.”

At approximately 2 p.m., a customer inside the shelter watched as a

cab driver fled the parking lot after unloading the carriers, which

contained 10 cats. One carrier had four crammed cats, Christianson said.

“It’s a good thing it wasn’t hot,” Christianson said. “Any time you

cram four cats in a carrier it doesn’t smell good.”

Hours after the unexpected delivery, someone placed a suspicious phone

call into the shelter stating they had seen the drop-off happen and

inquired if the perpetrator had been caught, Christianson said.

Christianson said she wondered whether the person calling had something

to do with the incident and called just to make sure the shelter received

the cats.

The law prohibits the shelter from keeping abandoned cats and mandates

that they notify the county when any such incidence occurs. The county

picked up the abandoned cats Tuesday and delivered them to the no-kill

Newport Beach Animal Shelter in the Dover Shores Pet Care Center at 2075

Newport Blvd.

“We could use all the help we could get in getting these guys a home,”

said Newport Beach Animal Shelter coordinator Maggie Thigpen. “We already

have 40 cats.”

The protection society said the issue of cat abandonment has risen

dramatically in the six years they have been in Newport Beach. This year

alone seven instances of cat abandonment have taken place, Christianson

said.

“People need to know that we can not keep abandoned animals,”

Christianson said. “By law we have no choice.”

The protection society does take in cats when arrangements have been

made, Christianson said. The protection society currently provides homes

to 110 cats.