A West Vancouver family is heartbroken and angry after the SPCA accidentally returned their missing cat to its previous owner - a woman the organization had previously seized the animal from for allowing 70 cats to suffer in deplorable conditions.
Now, says Jeremy Towning, the woman has refused to give the cat back and its West Vancouver
family fear the animal could again be suffering mistreatment. "It's just a horrific scenario for a family's pet," said Towning. "I am definitely angry."
Towning's mother-in-law, Hildegard Gehriger of West Vancouver, adopted the six-year-old cat they named Munch, as a family pet from the West Vancouver SPCA in May of 2010.
"It had a sweet demeanour," said Towning. "He was a very loving cat."
Munch's easygoing nature was in spite of a very dark history when he was one of 70 cats owned by Delta resident Cary Ulmer, who left them neglected, ill and lying in their own feces in a garage.
Officers from the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals raided Ulmer's home in October 2009 after receiving complaints about possible neglect from both an employee of a veterinarian's clinic and a woman who worked in Ulmer's home.
An SPCA report at the time detailed 70 cats discovered locked in a garage in overcrowded kennels or travel cases, some of them lying on top of each other and many without food, clean water, litter or bedding.
The cats showed signs of long-term neglect and most were emaciated, distressed and in poor health because of infections.
SPCA officers seized most of the cats from Ulmer, who fought the case all the way to the B.C. Court of Appeal which eventually rejected her appeal.
Meanwhile, the SPCA took care of the animals and eventually adopted them out to other families.
One of those cats was Munch, who won over his new West Vancouver family with his easygoing nature. "He was very calm," said Downing. "We just wanted a family pet."
Munch lived as an inside cat in his new home for more than a year. But in August, when one of Gehriger's grandchildren was visiting, a door was accidentally left open and Munch escaped.
The family searched the neighbourhood and turned up no signs of the pet. They were later relieved to discover the missing Munch had been turned in to the West Vancouver SPCA.
But that quickly turned to shock when they were told the cat had been returned to Ulmer - the person still registered as the owner with the electronic database attached to Munch's ear tattoo.
When the SPCA contacted Ulmer, who now lives in Langley, and asked her to return the cat, she refused. Instead, she said she had given the cat to her ex-fiancé, a man who lives on the same property where the 70 cats were originally seized.
It's now been seven weeks, said Downing, and the family is heartbroken wondering what kind of conditions their pet is now living in.
Downing said he's been to both Ulmer's home in Langley and her ex-boyfriend's home in Delta to try to talk to them directly, without success. "I know (Munch) is probably locked in the garage again," said Downing.
Lori Chortyk, manager of community relations for the B.C. SPCA, described the mix-up as "a really unfortunate case" that has never happened before to the animal welfare agency.
Chortyk said it's up to new owners of pets to ensure the information regarding their pets is up-to-date in the electronic registry. But she also acknowledged shelter staff usually do a check of the owners to ensure there are no problems before handing an animal over. This time, a new shelter employee didn't do that.
Chortyk said because there are no allegations of current mistreatment, the SPCA has no authority to go in and seize the cat. So the case has been handed to the Delta police, who are treating it as a theft. Chortyk said she's still hopeful the case can be resolved. "We need Ms. Ulmer to do the right thing," she said.
Two weeks ago, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered Ulmer to pay the B.C. SPCA $97,000 for costs of veterinary care for the 70 cats seized from her home. The SPCA is now in the process of tying to collect that money.
Neither Ulmer or her ex-boyfriend could be reached for comment.
jseyd@nsnews.com
