An employee who was driving by at about 11 p.m. thought the bag looked odd sitting outside the shelter and stopped on a hunch to look inside which might have saved the feline’s life or at least a very uncomfortable night in the cold that dipped to -12 C with a light snow. The wind chill Sunday night made it feel a lot more like -22 C.
“It was just really lucky for the cat that one of our staff happened to be driving by and saw him so he wasn’t out there all night,” Windsor/Essex Humane Society executive director Melanie Coulter said Monday.
Coulter said the employee named the male cat Glad since he seemed very glad to see someone … anyone. The employee at first thought the bag contained blankets or supplies left for the society until she peeked inside and heard a meow. The seven-month-old male cat is in surprisingly good health and could be available for adoption as early as Wednesday.
Although it’s good the animal was left where it could be found, it shouldn’t have been abandoned there after hours, Coulter said. She doesn’t know how long the cat had been outside before it was discovered.
A cat named Glad is shown at the Windsor/Essex County Humane Society on Monday, Jan. 18, 2016. The cat was dropped off in front of the facility in the middle of the night Sunday, one of the coldest so far this winter. DAN JANISSE / WINDSOR STAR
Coulter hopes Glad’s story can help people realize this … if you are afraid you can’t afford the $30 surrender fee for a cat, don’t just dump it.
“We work with people and we wave surrender fees whenever that’s required. We won’t turn an animal away because the owner can’t pay,” Coulter said.
Because the cat is OK, the society is not looking to press charges against the owner, but Coulter said it was poor judgment. “Especially on a night that was so cold, there was no need for it,” she said.
She reminded pet owners that cats and dogs are not cut out for the cold weather. Keep your pets inside, and if it is an outdoor pet make sure it has fresh water and extra food.
“With the cold weather it could have been much worse,” she said. “Glad was very lucky someone was going by.”