Janet Zimmermann first heard the cat’s cries, and knew the cat was certainly in distress. The poor cat had a metal chain wrapped tight around his neck, which was padlocked. The rest of the chain was wrapped around thick underbrush, which was full of thorns.
“It was no accident,” Zimmermann said. “Someone did this to him. Maybe as dog or animal bait, maybe as a Halloween sacrifice. I was shocked — stunned.”
She cut through the underbrush, and picked up the animal, still with a chain wrapped around his neck.
“I went to a hardware store, and we used bolt cutters to get it off. It was wrapped so tight around his neck it was hard to do,” she said.
Her next step was Spring Steubner/Champions Animal Hospital. Dr Barry Schmitt says the young tomcat received a clean bill of health and was extremely friendly. “I can’t imagine how I’d behave if I had gone through that, ” she said.
Mimi Baker, a clinic tech agreed. “He came up to me and rubbed against my leg. He’s so affectionate, such a great cat.”
They have named him “Forest” — for the environment in which he was destined to die, if it hadn’t been found when he was.
“I believe he’s here for a purpose,” she said. “He puts a face on animal abuse.”
The story will have a happy additional chapter when Forest finds a permanent, loving forever home.
Anyone interested in providing him a safe place to live, indoors, can contact the animal hospital at 281-376-2505.