Don't put animals in sealed containers: Humane Society of Elkhart County

June 22, 2012|By Clifton French (cfrench@wsbt.com), Click here to follow Clifton on Twitter | WSBT-TV Reporter

WSBT-TV/CLIFTON FRENCH

BRISTOL — It's a disturbing trend in Elkhart County; the Humane Society says it's seen several cases recently of cats dying, not all of them intentionally killed, but accidentally after being sealed in a container.

Of the four cases in just three weeks, the Humane Society has dealt with eight dead cats and kittens and has only been able to save one kitten. His name is Hefty, and he was found in a cardboard box in the dump with his dead sibling.

"Folks were getting ready to do the bulldozing and saw a kitten get out of the box. They went to check the box and the litter mate of that kitten had already expired," says Anne Reel, Elkhart County Humane Society executive director.

Hefty was also in bad shape. He was suffering from heat exhaustion, dehydration and hunger. As of Friday, he is doing better and should be ready for adoption within a couple of weeks.

But Reel says Hefty is not alone.

n fact, in the past two days, the Humane Society has dealt with the deaths of six cats after they were sealed in plastic containers.

"There's no ventilation, obviously when you have that lid on top you're depriving that animal of oxygen, and with the heat being what it is, if they haven't suffocated to death, they have severe heat exhaustion or heat stroke." Reel said.

On Tuesday, someone called to ask the Humane Society to pick up a mother cat and her four kittens. They were all found sealed in a plastic bin, and all five eventually died.

On Wednesday, a woman brought another cat in a plastic bin to the Humane Society. That cat also died.

Three weeks ago, a cat was brought to the Humane Society in a carrier, but that carrier was in the trunk of the car. The heat ended up killing that cat as well.

Learn from their mistakes

Reel says the people involved in these cases could be prosecuted for animal cruelty, but right now she is just trying to educate people.

She says even though it should be common sense not to put an animal in a sealed container, most of these people were just trying to get those animals to the Humane Society, not kill them.

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