ROWAN COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA – The Rowan County Animal Shelter has been completely cleared of all allegations after it was discovered a cat in their care suffered a jaw injury.
The North Carolina Department of Agriculture stated on Monday, March 21 their investigation into the incident with “Cooper” the cat has been closed.
According to the report, the Veterinary review of the fractures show that the injury is most consistent with a recent accidental-type of an injury.
The report states on March 8, 2016, that the rescue had chosen several cats including Cooper to be adopted and transferred into their care and custody. The rescue personnel instructed the shelter staff to prepare the adoption paperworks and to read the cats for transport.
One shelter staff member requested the assistance of another staff member in order to microchip and administer a rabies vaccination to Cooper due to the history of previous difficulties when handling this particular cat.
The report goes on to say Cooper was in his kennel and a transfer carrier [feral cat den] had been placed in the kennel. They said the feral cat dens are used as a means of providing a kind of hiding place for the cats to reduce their stress. The report said Cooper was not inside the den when staff members went to move him. Cooper was also not cooperative with their efforts to encourage him to enter the cat den.
According to the report, during the effort to remove Cooper, he became agitated and ran headlong into the den and into the sides of the enclosure. At one point during this period, it states the Plexiglas window pane of the carrier was actually broken. This window pane had been lifted up to open the window to allow Cooper entry into the carrier.
The report states that drops of blood were first noted by the shelter staff members as Cooper was removed from the kennel.
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