Porkchop was admitted to the shelter at 4:08 PM and euthanasia took place at 4:09.
He got out of his home at noon on January 10th, and was put down 4 hours and 9 minutes later. Porkchop was a loving friend and he will be forever missed.
Kaitlyn Hughes
Kaitlyn Hughes told her story in detail last month, when she was looking for signatures on a petition seeking reform at the shelter that killed her kitten. Now she is suing the shelter and everyone responsible for the kitten’s death. She hopes the suit will prevent other lost pets from being summarily killed and spare their families from going through the heartbreak she endured.
We covered the story of Porkchop’s tragic ending last month with our post of February 11, Porkchop’s Tragic Death at Shelter Inspires Petition for Reform. The post contains Kaitlyn Hughes’ pained and detailed account of everything that followed after her 5 month old indoors-only kitten slipped out of her apartment and went missing on January 10. Kaitlyn searched her apartment complex, went door knocking and posted at Craigslist. The following day she put up flyers, then went back to her apartment to make the huge sign she planned to post outside of the apartment complex. After she returned to her apartment an upstairs neighbor knocked on the door and asked her if she’d lost an orange kitten. The neighbor explained that he’d taken the kitten in when it meowed outside the apartment door, kept it for a couple of hours, then took it to the shelter.
Kaitlyn was confused as to why she hadn’t seen Porkchop when she visited the Mobile County, Alabama Animal Shelter earlier, but went about contacting shelter staff and animal control as she rushed to bring Porkchop back home. Kaitlyn got the runaround, then finally was told that Porkchop had been killed at the shelter. He was killed immediately after being signed over by the neighbor’s roommate.
The neighbors say they hand delivered the docile kitten and told the shelter he had no behavior issues. Shelter staff then put him in a trap and killed him. An employee named Andrew told Kaitlyn her kitten had been brought to the shelter in a trap and was killed in accordance with their policy on ferals.
Porkchop was killed despite MCAS having a 7 day hold policy in place for healthy strays brought to the shelter, to give families time to reclaim their lost pets.
At the time of our February post on Porkchop’s story Kaitlyn was trying to get signatures on a petition asking for reasonable reforms and policies to be put in place at MCAS. You can see the details of the petition and sign it here: Please Help Reform the Mobile County Animal Shelter.
Another petition featured at the Reform the Mobile County Animal Shelter Now page at Facebook seeks to Reform the Mobile County Animal Shelter.
Porkchop’s tragic and completely unnecessary death is back in the news again this week as Kaitlyn files a lawsuit against the shelter and everyone there responsible for her kitten’s death. Her attorney has sent the county a letter informing them he “plans to file suit against all of those at the County Animal Shelter responsible for the death of the kitten.” The letter claims the shelter committed wanton negligence and the “kitten was killed for no legitimate reason.”
“It’s going to hold them accountable to some degree and if anything get some sort of justice for Porkchop,” Kaitlyn told Local 15. “If something doesn’t change there this is going to happen again.”
The news report below covers the story of the suit, and includes remarks from Kaitlyn. An earlier news report on the story can be seen at our post from February 11, along with Kaitlyn’s detailed account.
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Poor sweet baby! This just breaks my heart and to think that these people are supposed to be helping animals! My prayers go out to Kaitlyn in hopes that justice for Porkchop can be served somehow. Rest in Peace, sweet Porkchop!
no words I can even say about this… 🙁
I applaud your law suit. Its time someone took action. Your loss was devastating and I wonder if it happened before and no one went public?