NO MORE TRAPPING!!!!

The Rancho Cats want to thank everyone who spoke up and took action and consistently asked the County for answers. At this time the County and rescue groups are working together to find a solution that is best for the cats.

The Rancho cats however will share with you the following good news:

• NO MORE TRAPPING!!!!!
• Caregivers will be allowed to feed once again. After 2 months of this, the cats came out to greet their loyal feeders. Many cats that had not been seen in all the chaos emerged from the crawlspaces as they heard familiar voices call out to them.

There are many rumors circulating and, for the sake of these cats, they need to stop. There was never any talk of the cats being poisoned. If they had been, that information would be on this blog and there would be NO negotiations.

There are many things that are being discussed and you will be the first to know once everything is resolved. At this time, however, rumors only help to STOP the progress that has already been made.

Also please remember to let everyone you know to spay/neuter their pets. The homeless pet situation was not created by the County or Animal Control but by irresponsible people who neglected to have their pets sterilized.

THANK YOU!!! Will keep you posted.

Humane Society of the United States to Don Knabe

LtrLACountySupervisor_121008

Publish at Scribd or explore others: rancho los amigos ca

WHERE ARE ALL THE CATS??

Wednesday, Dec. 10, for the very first time since this all started, there was clean water in a water bowl visible from the street. Animal Control left early that day and the Board Up company had been in the alley and left in the afternoon. A few hours later, we figured out why the water was changed. A County worker came and took pictures of the clean water bowl, and then went into the alley and continued taking pictures.

Does Don Knabe think the public is stupid? How can 1 day of pictures, taken by County officials be enough proof that AC is feeding the cats on a DAILY basis. How can County officials bend down and shine a light in ONE crawlspace and call it a thourough search of 3 block long buildings?

Thursday, Dec. 11, for the first time since the trapping started, clean water and food bowls were seen at the usual feeding stations. Animal Control was seen taking out a bag of cat food and new shiny water and food bowls for the cats. Due to public pressure and calls some of the boards were even removed!! This was done in a matter of hours because Don Knabe's office got wind of the candlelight vigil that took place in the evening and the media was going to show up.

SOME boards were removed approx. 86 hours later...only 4 members of the Alley Cat Gang have been seen. The 2 other feeding stations are empty...no cat is there to enjoy these brand new shiny stainless steel bowls animal control ordered. Maybe AC didn't understand that the cats were happy with their old bowls, just as long as they were filled with food and water on a daily basis by their caregivers. Were these bowls filled with food and water just for show? For one day only?

Don Knabe has been contacted by the Humane Society of the United States. They demanded he lift the feeding ban, seize trapping and work to find a humane solution. When is Don Knabe going to stop and listen to the thousands of pleas he's received? Does he think he is above the law only because he was just reelected this year?

SOME of the boards have been removed, although for some cats, maybe 86 hours was too long. For the cats that are still there, the feeding ban needs to be lifted and the trapping needs to seize immediately. Don Knabe needs to work with TNR groups that have offered their help, like Stray Cat Alliance.

Don Knabe Is Getting Away With Animal Cruelty

Garfield shown hiding in the crawlspace, now it is sealed with him in it. Time is ticking for these cats, call and demand the boards be removed. (213) 974-4444

After many calls and e-mails to Don Knabe, still refuses to listen to the people. Perhaps he has forgotten how he became Supervisor.





The cats are still boarded up and now it's been more than 48 hours. Aaron Neverez has said there are exits...just out of sight from the concerned citizens. The point is there was NO need to board up the buildings and risk the fact that some cats may not be able to find their way. I guess that means less cats to trap. He can't possible assure the public that no cat will die underneath the buildings due to the boarding up, not the mention the lack of food and water. The so called exits are NOT enough. With all the holes sealed there is no proper ventilation.





Aaron has said there is water...just out of sight from the concerned citizens. He said the cats are being fed...he is referring to the food in the 4 traps.








Below is an article by Dr. Pat Meredith explaining the dangers of the County's actions.





I am appalled that the county would resort to such inhumane treatment of the Rancho cats to effect their removal from the Rancho grounds. Starvation, dehydration, and death are inevitable should the cats not receive food and water soon.

Most importantly is access to water. Most forms of life on earth can manage to survive for days and sometimes weeks without food, but death occurs rapidly when there is no access to water. In young kittens and old cats, death can be expected in 3-7 days. Renal failure and electrolyte imbalance are the physiologic causes. With higher temperatures, death will occur sooner.

With deprivation of food, the body does not have the necessary source of calories to burn to keep warm. On cold nights, particularly as it approaches freezing, hypothermia occurs rapidly and is the cause of death.

The Rancho cats are currently being deprived of both food and water. The nights are now dipping down into the low 40's, and in the damp crawl space under the buildings where the cats are trapped, it can be expected to be even colder. I expect the kittens and older cats will begin to die in 3-4 days, depending on their overall state of health. Surely by 5-7 days, without food or water, and with extremes of temperature and possibly rain in the forecast, death will certainly ensue for the remaining cats now entombed under the buildings.

Patricia J. Meredith, MD, PhD





Keep expressing your concerns to Don Knabe (213) 974-444 and remind him who it is he works for!!!

COUNTY LIES, CATS WILL DIE

Men arrive late Sunday evening to board up more than 40 crawlspaces. They are using plywood to seal the holes. See all the plywood in the vehicle? Cats were seen darting into the crawlspaces, this is where they go when they sense danger. Don Knabe has turned their "homes" into their graves.

Please, call Don Knabe's office. (213) 974-4444

Why was it neccessary to board up the cats underneath the building?? AC has been trapping the cats since October 25, and they have not fed the cats nor allowed anyone else to feed the cats. Why, on top of all this, is he boarding up the crawlspaces with the cats trapped inside? Is it easier to have them all die underneath the building, instead of trapping them??

• His office will might say that they have left 1 opening per building for the cats and that they are using wire mesh screens to cover the openings.

We are talking about 3 huge buildings. 2 of these openings are hidden from view. Why? Why didn't they leave the openings on 2 of the main buildings where they would be seen from the street. Why hide them from view? Are they really open? How do we know? They are NOT using wire mesh, they are using plywood boards.

How do we know that the path to these exits is clear? Nobody went down there to check. Nobody evacuated all the cats and other animals living underneath the buildings. If they manage to find the exit, in time, they won't be able to escape, as there is a holding pen right outside the exit. As we have seen in the past, cats will start pawing at the board. They will try to escape from their usual exit not a new one hundreds of feet away.

• They might also say that the reason for doing this is because the buildings will come down anyway and they want to ensure the safety.

Ask when these buildings will come down? They won't give you a good answer. It could be 5, 10, 15 years. There simply isn't any money, which is puzzling to me why the County would be spending so much money on building a fence around a building that will torn down. Aside from that the manpower to have an animal control officer trap everyday along with the police escorts they initially had, and now the boarding up of the buildings.

On November 13, 2008 Don Knabe held his second annual State of the County Address. The press telegram ran the story and titles it Supervisor warns county finances are facing disaster. He explains how the department had to tap into the reserves to balance this years budget. Towards the end of his speech he said in regards to any possible problem that may arise,

"We're going to keep our minds wide open for solutions, we're going to listen to you for solutions..."

There is no possible excuse or lie the County might come up with that makes this ok. None. The boards need to be removed immediately. These cats lives are in immediate danger.

Rancho Pictures

Log onto http://www.flickr.com/photos/32986567@N04/?saved=1 to view pictures from Rancho.

LA County's Feral Cat Extermination Method, Revisited

This picture was taken January of this year, when LA County decided they were going to board up the crawl spaces used for shelter by the Rancho cats. The plan was to use plywood to cover the openings missing a screen and to leave 1 opening for the cats to use. We are talking about enormous buildings, a cat would die looking for that 1 exit, assuming the path to the exit is clear. Below you can see the cat pawing at the screen, he didn't run hundreds of feet away to the 1 exit. After some unwanted attention the project was discontinued and the cat you see in the picture was freed.

Fast forward to the day before Thanksgiving, the brand new chain link fence is complete and the gates leading to more than 10 feeding stations is locked. Below is the picture of a few cats eating what a passerby managed to slip underneath the gates. After the fence was completed it was said that the next step would be to board up the crawl spaces used as shelter by the Rancho cats. Sound familiar?

Difference is that now with the chain link fence around a large area, including a public alley, the public can no longer see the boarding up of the crawlspaces within the 2 big courtyards located on either side of the alley. Fail-Safe voluteers can no longer go into the alley and save a trapped or injured cat. They will not find the exit, assuming they are leaving an exit. It would be like dropping a person inside a HUGE dark maze without any food and water, accompanied with obstacles and extreme temperatures.

In the past, they didn't check and didn't care to see that all cats were safely out from underneath the buildings and they won't do it now that they are hidden from view.

When calls were made to Don Knabe's office about the cats going without food or water, his spokesperson Aaron Nevarez assured concerned citizens the cats were getting plenty of food and water from Animal Care & Control. Below is the picture of a feeding station, there is no food and there is no water. Here are some explanations you will get when calling Knabe's office. I will keep updating these as they seem to change all the time.

• Animal Care & Control is feeding the cats.

Not true. An animal control officer asked his supervisor if he had to give the cats food or water and the supervisor said, "absolutely not."

• Rancho staff is feeding the cats.

Not true. Rancho staff was given a memo warning them not to feed the cats. Video surveillance is used to monitor if any Rancho staff is feeding the cats.

• Animal Care & Control sees no need to feed the cats since people keep feeding the cats.

After 3 days of seeing the cats without food and water, yes concerned citizens disregarded the Do Not Feed the Cats signs and gave the starving cats a well deserved meal.

• If they or anybody feeds the cats it will interfere with their trapping.

Ok, animal control arrives 6 days a week with 4 traps. They don't feed the cats nor do they want the cats fed because they want them to be hungry...all 7 days of the week. The area the cats occupy is approx. 164 acres. Voluteers aren't allowed to feed ANYWHERE on the 164 acres because they then will be interfering with animal control's approx. 6' trapping area. What???

• There will be automatic water bowls set around the various feeding stations.

Sounds nice, but it can't be true. Within the fenced in area, there is no electricity and there is no water source either.

• They might also say that the reason for putting up the fence is to keep copper strippers out and it is not to facilitate the trapping of the cats.

There is nothing of value left in the old abandoned buildings (except our kitties) and a fence sure isn't going to deter anybody looking for mischief. The fence is to keep Fail-Safe and concerned citizens, looking out for the safety of the cats, out.

Another serious concern that Fail-Safe was confronted with was the mysterious disappearance of 5 cats they had placed holds on. They were listed as second interested parties on the following cats:

1. A3906188


2. A3906187


3. A3906186


4. A3905274


5. A3910030.

All these cats are no longer in the area designated for the Rancho cats. Just a week before a supervisor at the shelter admitted they only had a few calls inquiring about the cats, not a long list of people like they first claimed. Where then are all these cats?

They will insist that they don't want to kill the cats, that they are going to relocate them all, and adopt them out to good barn homes. If they have a long list of barn homes, what about giving the building full of feral cats they currently have a chance at life? It seems wrong and cruel to continue killing hundreds of feral and friendly cats with one hand and in the other hand have a long list of people wanting to adopt a cat. As for the Rancho cats, leave them alone, they already have a home and people to take care of them.

If relocation was really their main focus, perhaps all the money they have spent on putting up the chain link fence, having the animal control officer there 6 days a week, and paying a company to board up the buildings, could have been given to Fail-Safe to help relocate the cats...IF relocation was really their plan. Instead they want to starve the cats and subject them to a ruthless and outdated policy of extermination funded by taxpayer dollars.

Please keep calling and press for answers. Tell Don Knabe to put an immediate stop to all of this and let Fail-Safe care for these cats as they have for the last 4 years. Trapping the cats and having them suffer and die is not the right thing to do.

Don Knabe Using Tax Money To Continue Tormenting the Rancho Cats.

A fence to trap the cats in and to keep Fail-Safe out.

Today workers from Board-Ups Unlimited (818)368-9008 were at Rancho

putting poles in the ground. These men led by Peter F. Stevens worked all day until late evening. The plan is to waste taxpayer's money and put up a chain link fence around the old abandoned buildings at Rancho. Why? My guess is that they want to seal off the area so Fail-Safe voluteers will no longer be able to get near the cats. They will not be allowed to trap, feed the cats, give the cats water, or even attend to a sick, trapped or injured cat.

In a time where money is so scarce, it's a surprise to me the LA County Supervisor Don Knabe would spend so much money in an attempt to keep Fail-Safe from interfering with their continued animal abuse against the cats. What will they think of next? We can't let this happen. They have boarded up the holes, used by the cats to hide, in the past and it ended up in the death of one cat. Difference is last time they didn't put a fence up first.

Keep calling Knabe (213) 974-4444 or e-mail Don@lacbos.org

Don't let them tell you the fence is for any other purpose. Why are they putting it up now that they are trying to trap the cats?

Why is the County spending money on a situation that can best be handled by Fail-Safe 4 Felines at no cost to the hard working American?

How can they assure us that the cats will be safe, when they have never cared about the safety of the cats?

What makes us think they will make sure all the cats are out of underneath the buildings before boarding them up when they don't so much as care if the cats have the basics, food and water?

You Tube Video

A thank you to Jack Perez for making this wonderful video for us. You can see the situation first hand and won't have to rely on LA County Supervisor Don Knabe's lies. I'm sure he has never and will never set foot at Rancho Los Amigos Rehabilitation Center. Please circulate this video around and call Don Knabe's office and tell him to stop wasting our taxpayer's money and to call off LAACC from trapping the Rancho cats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wcXs503GgQ

Rancho Cats Terrified at LA County Downey Shelter

The Rancho cats have had their lives turned upside down in a matter of weeks. Eleven years they had followed the same routine and had been around the same people. Now they have had their home invaded, all hours of the day, by strange people with traps that are out to get them and take them to the animal shelter where 100% of ferals are killed.

The shelter is no place for a feral cat as the only "service" they can provide them with is death. Read a first hand account of the horrific experience David and Linda endured when they went to pick-up several Rancho cats that had been trapped and taken to the LA County Downey Shelter.

On 10/31/2008 David and Linda East, with Fail-Safe 4 Felines, went to L.A. County Animal Control at 12585 Garfield, Downey, Ca to "bail out" 4 cats. 3 of these cats had been trapped by L.A. County Animal Control on 10/25/2008. The other one had been trapped by L.A. County Animal Control on 10/30/2008.

After paying the fees L. A. County Animal Control required to release the cats we were escorted to where the 3 cats were located. I waited by the back door, I was not allowed to go in. By the back door of this building, was a sally port. A sally port is a chain link fence attached to the building. There were 2 L.A. County Animal Control officers, a man and a woman, retrieving the cats and they handed the first 2 cats to me and I left them in the car with my husband. The woman went to get the 3rd cat, it got away from her and ran into the sally port. The orange cat, who is feral was totally terrified and scared. The cat climbed up to the top of the chain link fencing, hanging from the top. All this is happening in a matter of seconds. The lady officer went back into the room and got a net. The other officer had the carrier up, as to drop the cat in once they got it. The cat was so traumatized, he began to urinate while hanging on the fence. He urinated all over the carrier, inside and out. They finally netted him. I asked that they clean the inside of the carrier, before putting him in, they did not and just threw him in the urine filled carrier. The man brought the carrier with the cat outside to me and I took him to the car. During this ordeal with the 3rd cat the animal control officer could be heard saying, I thought I could handle the cat.

The story does not end here. The 4th cat was in the spay and neuter clinic, which was now closed. I was instructed to come back to the reception area and someone would get the cat. You guessed it, the same officer who let the orange boy escape. She took me down a hall inside where it looked as if only employees should be. The freshly spayed cat was on the top cage. This, by the way, is the lactating momma that LAACC REFUSED to let return back to Rancho to care for her kittens. The officer said "I can handle her." Gee where have I heard that? As soon as she opened the cage door, the cat bolted out and ran and hid behind some of the stainless steel cages. The officer kept trying to get her but was unable to. Another person, a woman came in. She keep telling a large dog in a cage named "Tanner" to be quiet. This woman was in street clothes. She climbed up on top of these cages to see where the cat was. The cat was back in the very corner, hiding. There was wooden pole, with some sharp things on one end. The women on top of the cages used the pole, I do not know which end she used, I could not see from where I was in the room. She put it in between the cages and the window to try and push the cat out. I keep saying, "please remember this cat just got spayed today". After what seemed like an eternity, the officers realized they could not get the cat out, that the cages needed to be moved. The cages are not on wheels. The woman in street clothes, got down, took the dog (Tanner) out of the cage to her car. The dog had continually barked during this whole time further terrifying the momma cat. Back up was called and another officer came to help. Once he saw me in the room, he told me to leave and wait outside by my car. I estimated this horrible ordeal went on for a least 15 - 20 minutes.

Approx. 5 - 10 minutes later the officer came out to our car with the newly spayed cat in the carrier. His clothes and body were covered in dirt. The cat was so scared and traumatized, she was shaking. We put the carrier in the car, and covered her with a towel. We drove straight to the vets office to have the 4 cats evaluated. The newly spayed feral cat is still currently at the vets to be monitored for internal damage or any other damage that could have easily occurred during this very traumatic and unnecessary ordeal the cat was put thru.

Their staff is clearly not trained to handle feral cats and they want to take on 100 ferals from Rancho? I hate to think of what else happened to the momma cat for those long 5-10 minutes that she was left alone in that room with the animal control officers...

Pictured above is Orange Boy trying to recover from his long ordeal at a foster home.

Risk of Disease at Rancho Los Amigos

The following is an article by Patricia J Meredith, MD, PhD. She analyses the situation at Rancho Los Amigos and provides facts about the risks of disease.

Patricia J Meredith, MD, PhD writes:
This has been an excellently managed colony of cats for over 10 years, and over 90% of the population there has been spayed/neutered, microchipped, dewormed, and vaccinated. Unfortunately, the nature and location of this old and abandoned part of Rancho has pre-disposed it to excessive dumping of tame cats from the neighboring communities. In addition, tame cats from nearby County Animal Shelter have shown up on occasion with pink collars on, identifying them as such. Despite continuous efforts by feral cat caretakers to stay abreast of the situation, in situations such as this it is oftentimes impossible to achieve a 100% track record.

Mr. Knabe, on his website at, www.knabe.com is citing a dramatic increase in the cat population at Rancho as reason to claim the TNR program there as a failure, which is an unfortunate and erroneous statement. Clearly, without the efforts of the Failsafe-4-Feline rescue group, the number of cats on the premises would have been 10-fold by now. I refer Mr. Knabe to Dr. Mackieʼs famous "rule of 7's" for calculated hard and irrefutable mathematical evidence of this.

Mr Knabe also sites reasons regarding the health of the children at a local day care center as being paramount in his decision. He states " Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) has determined that the current conditions pose a public health risk", and that " unmanaged colonies of feral cats could potentially pass on organisms related to human disease such as rabies, plague, endemic typhus, toxoplasmosis, and cat-scratch disease."

Today I spoke with a veterinarian at the California Department of Public Health, to get his opinion on these statements. He informed me that there has not been a case of plague in California in decades, and that when it does occur it is usually in the foothills. Likewise, he indicated that there has not been an incidence of reported rabies in cats in southern California in decades, the most recent being in a northern most county of the state. He advised me to urge those interested in learning more about the true facts regarding these diseases to consult the department's web site at www.CDPH.CA.gov.

After several hours of browsing the site, I have enclosed as attachment some key information regarding rabies, plague, and typhus, and the statistics regarding incidence of these diseases in California. Read and judge for yourself......rest assured the chances of acquiring these diseases from one of the feral cats in this well-managed colony at Rancho is quite remote. Not only are most of the cats vaccinated against rabies, the cats have also kept the grounds rodent free, thereby significantly minimizing the chance of acquiring murine typhus and plague. By removing the cats, the residents in the community are actually being put at increased risk of acquiring these diseases........something Mr. Knabe is failing to reveal to the public.

Lastly, the sand box at the child care center should always be kept covered with a plastic tarp, regardless of the presence of cats or not. Nearly all day care centers, pre-schools, and private child care facilities keep covers over their sand boxes. It keeps out falling debris, insects and spiders, and other critters from using the box. Despite the suggestion from Failsafe to keep the box covered, I drove by the Child Care Center this weekend and it still remains uncovered. To me, questions just how concerned the Child Care Center really is about the health and welfare of the children there who do play in the box.

--Patricia J. Meredith, MD, PhD


Information below from www.CDPH.CA.gov
RISK OF PLAGUE IN CALIFORNIA

Plague is a bacterial disease people can get if they are bitten by an infected rodent flea. Most persons with plague develop fever and swollen lymph nodes. Plague is treatable with antibiotics, but can progress to severe and sometimes fatal illness if diagnosis and treatment are delayed. Squirrels, chipmunks, and other rodents in many areas of California can carry plague. Persons visiting, hiking, or camping in these areas should avoid contact with rodents.

Plague in California occurs in the foothills, mountains, and coastal mountain areas (shaded areas on map). Plague is absent from the southeastern desert and the Central Valley. Plague is most common in the rural and undeveloped mountains, as well as the suburban foothills of some larger cities.
The last known human cases of plague in urban areas occurred in Los Angeles in the 1920s.


Typhus (Murine Typhus)
Typhus is a bacterial illness transmitted by fleas from wild rats or opossums. Typhus is typically a mild illness, is readily treated with antibiotics, and rarely results in death. Only a dozen or so cases are reported each year in California and most of these are in residents of a few small areas in the Los Angeles basin. Persons living in areas endemic for typhus should avoid contact with opossums and maintain proper flea control on their outdoor pets

Rancho Los Amigos Cats in Downey

As you may have heard LA County is trapping cats on the Rancho Los Amigos south campus and taking them to the LA County Downey Shelter. David and Linda East have been taking care of the Rancho cats since 1996. They contacted Fail-Safe 4 Felines 4 years ago to help TNR the cats and that's where it all began.
I will be posting accurate updates and information as well as answering any questions.
Following are some arguements made by Aaron Nevarez from Don Knabe's office (213) 974-4444 when a Rancho cat supporter called to protest their actions.

Aaron Nevarez: Fail-Safe 4 Felines didn't take care of the cats-there now are 5 litters of kittens.

My response: According to Alex Moto, the animal control officer who was trapping at Rancho, there are 200 cats at Rancho. Don Knabe's press release referred to the colony as "unmanged". How can an unmanged colony of 200 cats only produce 5 litters?

Furthermore cats are dumped more often then ever before. Many cats have escaped from THEIR facility, the LA County Downey Shelter located only 35 feet from Rancho adding to the number of cats and perhaps making the 5 litters theirs.

2 weeks ago one cat was spotted with a pink paper collar used by their facility. Many people surrendering their pets to the shelter turn their animals loose at the end of the driveway when asked to go to SEAACA instead and those animals also could make their way to Rancho.

There are also many residential cats that have been spotted making there way onto the Rancho Campus.

Aaron Nevarez: Place filthy-poop all over-totally unsanitary...that's why they moved in.

My Response: Caregivers go to Rancho everyday including weekends to feed and pick up any trash. There are brooms and brushes at the main feeding stations to facilitate daily cleaning. Caregivers pick up the trash and the cats take care of the poop by covering it. Individuals passing by sometimes leave cans of wet food for the cats at different feeding stations, they are picked up the following day by the caregivers.

Aaron Nevarez: School nearby...health reasons for kids.

My Response: Fail-Safe 4 Felines offered to buy a tarp to cover the sandbox and also to cover any openings that the cats might be using to get in. Their feeding stations were moved across the street and far from the school. There is a high chain linked fence around the school yard. Cats are scared and will run away instead of attacking children.

This is a good opportunity to sit the kids down and educate them on the humane treatment of all the animals surrounding their play yard. This includes the feral cats, raccoons, and opposums to name a few.

Aaron Nevarez: There are barns that can adopt out the cats.

My Response: They initially claimed to have over 40 barns but when pressed repeatedly and forgetting to bring the address information to the meetings held between Fail-Safe and LAACC they came up with a short list of coyote infested barns. After Fail-Safe contacted the barns there was only 1 barn that we considered safe.

Cat Supporter: Questioned Nevarez at length about the county's inability to determine feral from social. She expressed her concern that they might kill a cat without knowing the cat is domesticated because they are scared.

My Response: Cats that are not microchipped are being held for 5 days and LAACC will not release them before. During this time a temperment test will be administered rating the following: Hissing, growling, spitting, pupils dilated, ears flattened, charges, hides. Heck, my indoor cat has done all those things to me at one time or another. Right now the cats are under strays, and I don't know if they will be classified as ferals if they fail the temperment test because they are utterly terrified.

***A cat trapped on Saturday was quickly examined by a vet tech because it was foaming at the mouth when it arrived at the shelter. Aha, rabies they thought. Nope the cat was just extremely stressed and very very scared. He is neutered and has an ear tip but since he doesn't have a microchip he isn't being released yet.***

Cat Supporter: Told Nevarez she thinks Rancho cats are marked.

My Response: One "solution" outlined by LAACC is called House and Treat- The offer was to house the cats for a very limited time and at the end of their term in their facility (which would be dictated by them) Fail-Safe would be given the opportunity to remove the cats if they were not adopted but could not return them to Rancho, otherwise, they would be euthanized.

If Fail-safe had a place to take them they would have moved them by now and avoid the cats stay at the shelter, which will cost them money everytime they retrieve a cat from the shelter.

Rancho Cat Supporter: Nevarez attempted to convice her that they will try their best not to kill the cats...she wasn't conviced.

My Response: Try? Last time I checked they weren't a no kill shelter. These facilities are the least equipped to handle feral cats. For feral cats there is only one outcome as statistics show that 100% of ferals that enter shelters are killed.

So the points above are some angles that LAACC will use to try and convince the public they are doing the right and humane thing, but they are not. A group of cats have been without food for 3 days because LAACC came in and zip tied the gate leading to these cats. Marcia stated that Rancho staff are feeding the cats but that is untrue. David and Linda East have been at Rancho, watching over their babies every single day, from sunrise to sunset, and have not seen anyone feed the cats.

Today, October 30, Peter Stevens (818) 368-9008 from the company Board-Ups Unlimited came to Rancho. He got a call to come by and see about completely boarding up one of the buildings and erecting a fence around it. This has been done in the past and it didn't matter if cats were trapped inside without any water and food. Fail-Safe excerted some pressure and SOME were opened. If this happens again what assurance do we have that all animals will be out from the building if a fence will be erected to keep us out? Besides, if they are concerned about protecting the Crime Lab and the school why not put a fence around that area instead? Why waste taxpayers money to erect a fence around an abandoned building?

Board-Ups Unlimited IS NOT the same company that boarded up the buildings in January 2008.