To the editor:
I have been following Clare Kierstead’s letters regarding the Presque Isle Animal Shelter. He is 110 percent correct! These cats are cooped up in carrier-size or slightly larger cages with no room to do much more than stretch. Sure, they get out for a bit of exercise daily but not enough. A cat which is an outdoor cat can adjust to being an indoor cat. Many years ago, I had four outdoor cats. When I lost two in a week’s time, I decided I’d turn the other two, ages 9 1/2 and 10 1/2, into indoor cats. They adjusted very well. During that time period, I also took in a 2-year old outdoor female cat that had been abandoned. She was pregnant and I kept her and her four kittens. Two of the kittens wanted out all the time, so I trained them to a harness and leash. They were very happy. One lived to age 15 1/2 and the other almost 18!
When the two oldest cats died, I took in a totally wild cat, Spooky. He, too, became harness and leash trained and was very happy.
Clare himself has a former outdoor cat that is harness and leash trained.
My best friend has trained three cats this way (one is now passed on and the oldest is no longer interested in going out — she is 17). The kitten loves going out and is content with this arrangement. The neighbor below them has a cat who constantly wanted out and wasn’t happy until I gave the lady one of my old harnesses. Daisy is a very happy cat and also has the best of both worlds.
In the last few years, I have taken in three cats from the shelter in Caribou that were outdoor cats. They are indoor cats now and happy. Should that change, they’ll be trained to a harness and leash like my late cats were who wanted to get out.
Your arguments against a cat run are useless, baseless and ignorant. They are just excuses, with no basis in fact or reality, to avoid doing something wonderful for the shelter cats. It is especially disheartening to see that you, the unnamed, unseen board of directors, refuse to delve into this dilemma in a mature and intelligent manner. Do your homework! Outdoor cats do adjust to being indoor cats, to being harness and leash trained. Cats are very intelligent and if it’s to their benefit, they’ll accept being on a harness and leash if it means they can go out.
Do the right thing — allow these benefactors the chance to purchase these runs. It’s not costing you anything. Put yourselves in these cats’ places. Would you like being cooped up and crammed into cages with little room to move? No, you would not like this scenario! Maybe the answer to this dilemma is to have the board of directors crammed into the equivalent size cages for an indeterminate amount of time, with brief periods of exercise. Poetic justice indeed! Do right by these cats, it’s your job!
This is not to say the shelter hasn’t done a good job over the years but you can do better — much better. These poor homeless animals deserve better. The welfare of these animals should be your top priority, not politics or egos or whatever is stopping you.
Presque Isle
