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.