Dogs And Cats Left Chained Up Outside In The Freezing Cold Temperatures In New York
The temperatures outside are freezing, but one owner left his dogs and cats chained to trees and trucks. The home and animals are owned by 83-year-old Edward Maxwell, and he no longer lives there. The dogs and cats were fed twice per day, but with being left outside in these freezing temperatures, although they also received water, their water froze really fast.
According to ABC News 10, the elderly man has throat cancer and can no longer take care of them. He said the dogs are his, but most of the cats are strays. It was his son who suggested the dogs and cats be better taken care of. According to Brad Shear of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society, the dogs looked to be well taken care of, fed and watered daily but the water froze too fast because of the cold temperatures. Since the owner of the home no longer lives there and cannot take care of the animals, the Mohawk Humane Society has stepped in. No one know just how long the animals were left outside in the cold but as of Friday, they are in the care of the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.
A woman who did not want to be identified also said the dogs looked well taken care of, except for the fact that they were tied to trucks and trees on chains. The unidentified woman also said that a cat came up to them, and when she bent down to pet it, you could feel an icy touch to it. This is how cold they were from being left outside. Although the local Humane Society took the dogs in, they are trying to trap the cats to bring them in. Once they are all caught, they will also be brought into the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society to be taken care of until they find loving, forever homes for all of them.
According to Sergeant Lovett from the state police, no charges have been filed against the owner for animal neglect or cruelty since he surrendered the pets over to them and signed papers letting them go.
Just because cats are outside and may look like stray cats doesn’t mean they should not be taken care of. In Los Angeles, California, a project is going on called the Kitty Convict project where cartoonist Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal is making sure cats are going to be taken care of. According to KRQE, he has started the Kitty Convict project to be able to make sure all cats will be taken in and cared for. This project focuses on cats that are left outside. He wants to make sure every cat in the city has an orange collar on it with its name and its owner’s name and phone number. This way, if someone’s cat gets outside and takes off, it can be identified and brought back to its original home.
No cats or dogs should be left outside where it is cold or even otherwise where people can take them and sell them for their own personal gain. According to Inman, he and his team members want to change how people look at cats. When most people look at dogs running loose, they pick them up assuming they have been abandoned or got loose. However, when most people see a cat outside roaming around, they often assume the cat is allowed outside or it is a stray. He wants to change this and help all of the cats he can. He wants to get cats back to their owners and find owners for the ones who are strays.
According to Inman, people look for their cats differently than they do for their dogs when they get loose. He says that dogs have more collar ID’s on them than cats do. He also says that only about 25 percent of cats are reunited with their owners. He said he wants to change all of this and make sure all cats have a home with someone who will love them.
[Photo by Bruce Bennet/Getty Images]
