Man sues Humane Society: Williams seeks $10,000 from JRHS over two kittens
November 28, 2012 at 1:09 am in The Jamestown Sun
A Jamestown man seeking $10,000 from a pet shelter over two kittens made his case in small claims court Tuesday before Southeast District Court Judge John T. Paulson.
Continue Reading
Is this guy for real?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
51 
27
Why sue the Humane Society? Why not go after the neighbor who took the cats in the first place. Frivolous lawsuit at best.
Hot debate. What do you think?
25 
30
Yeah because it was her job to find the owners. Real smart Doc. You would think the humane society would try to find the owners and not just through petfinder. Petfinder is for adoption and not to find owners.
Hot debate. What do you think?
32 
20
Obviously the sarcasm was lost on you, Jeremy. As ridiculous as it is to sue the Humane Society, it would be just as ridiculous to sue the woman who brought the cats in. My point is that we live in such a litigious society, that people are wanting to point the finger at someone else instead of taking responsibility for their own common sense and actions.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
43 
11
Sounds like the man did what he should to locate his kittens. Why did they tell him they didn’t have them when they did? Why didn’t they try to locate owners as they say they do? I do support the JRHS but think a big mistake was made. I hope his niece gets her kittens back. I would want my daughter to have her cat back if this happened to us. Maybe this will help prevent mistakes in the future for families in this community with missing pets.
Hot debate. What do you think?
42 
33
This doesn’t hurt anyone but the taxpayers dollars. They are a nonprofit organization! It would be like suing the red cross. This is just stupid. I understand he is angry as would I be, but to sue an organization who is up and running to save animals and all with volunteers donating their time. Just because they had one mistake is ridiculous. That girl could get two new kittens (which you can get for free basically anywhere) and be just as happy…. dumb. dumb. dumb!!!!!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
47 
30
Two new kittens are not the same thing to a little girl.
Hot debate. What do you think?
24 
15
Katie, when I read your comments, I always get the “I’m a mommy and we should all be nice to each other now, please!” vibe from them. Just because a place is non-profit, that doesn’t mean they should not be punished for their mistakes. Someone has to be punished. Priests in the churches were punished for their wrongdoings (and churches are non-profit.) If you even read the article you would know that the JRHS’s mission statement says that it attempts to locate the homes of lost animals. Well, did they do that? NO. You can’t put animals on an adoption website (which is beyond stupid – advertise in the paper or on your own website), or up for adoption at all, and expect that someone will “find” them there. That would be like me finding a Rolex and putting it up for sale at my yard sale, hoping the owner would claim it before someone buys it.
I think an important thing to remember here is that the JRHS gets our tax money. Well, it needs to serve us then. That tax money means they are held accountable to us. They should be required to publish all business activity in the paper, like other minutes of public meetings are published.
I do support the JRHS, but I don’t believe they did the right thing here. It’s time they make this right, or be punished properly.
Hot debate. What do you think?
28 
36
These are always very unfortunate incidents when anyone, especially a child loses a pet. But everyone’s actions were good intentions.
Any reasonable person would turn lost kittens in to the Humane Society in hopes of reuniting with their owner, or getting current shot/care and being adopted by new family.
There are so many kittens/cats in locally at JRHS and Prairie Paws that need new a loving forever home.
If I lost my pets, I would be grateful that they were still alive! I would be both happy that one had been adopted by a new family and sad that I cannot get him back. But I would gladly pay the $100 adoption fee to cover the medical care and boarding care while we were apart.
And if I really wanted a second kitten to play with Snickers or Skittles, I would adopt another kitten at Prairie Paws or JRHS and name him Almond Joy!! Okay, maybe AJ for short!
I am thankful we have two no-kill animal rescues in our community with many volunteers who give many hours caring for pets to find them homes and raising money to cover cost of care and medical expenses! I’ve bought many burgers/ hot dogs at JRHS cook-put fundraisers and Prairie Paws Meet and Greets at TSC!!
Suing is not the right answer here. And I hope JRHS can improve training for staff answering the phone. I also hope people looking for lost pets learn to look at these shelters more than once.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
47 
24
These are always very unfortunate incidents when anyone, especially a child loses a pet. But everyone’s actions were good intentions.
Any reasonable person would turn lost kittens in to the Humane Society in hopes of reuniting with their owner, or getting current shot/care and being adopted by new family.
There are so many kittens/cats in locally at JRHS and Prairie Paws that need new a loving forever home.
If I lost my pets, I would be grateful that they were still alive! I would be both happy that one had been adopted by a new family and sad that I cannot get him back. But I would gladly pay the $100 adoption fee to cover the medical care and boarding care while we were apart.
And if I really wanted a second kitten to play with Snickers or Skittles, I would adopt another kitten at Prairie Paws or JRHS and name him Almond Joy!! Okay, maybe AJ for short!
I am thankful we have two no-kill animal rescues in our community with many volunteers who give many hours caring for pets to find them homes and raising money to cover cost of care and medical expenses! I’ve bought many burgers/ hot dogs at JRHS cook-put fundraisers and Prairie Paws Meet and Greets at TSC!!
Suing is not the right answer here. I also hope people looking for lost pets learn to look at these shelters more than once.
Hot debate. What do you think?
26 
26
Wow, if he lives so close to town why didn’t he go out and check if his cats were their? I never seen the cats pictures in the newspaper, on the cable chanels or any cat lost posters for them.
I VOLUNTEER at the Humane Society and we do our best. When people call we descrip what we have and suggested they come out. How could we find the owner if the person (that did the responsible thing and found 2 cats a safe place) living next door didn’t know where they came from?
Why didn’t he have his cats micro chipped? Did they even have their shots? Why did they wonder off? Why weren’t they happy to stay with him?
As janitors & volunteers we do our very best and we all donate alot of time and money to give stray cats and dogs a safe place. As volunteers we do our best to care for the animals and don’t have time or the money to be detectives for people that don’t care for their animals
How is the $10,000 going to help his niece – get over missing the cats? Why is one still at the shelter if it is so important to him?
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
48 
16
If he really cared about those kittens, he wouldn’t have let them wander around unsupervised with no form of identification. Clearly he sees this as an opportunity to sue for an excessive amount of money. The simple answer is to give his one kitten at the shelter back to him and its up to the family who adopted the other one whether to give it back to him or not. If the one cat isn’t enough, guess what, I’m pretty sure there are plenty of other cats to adopt. Let this be a lesson to have proper identification on your pet, be it a tagged collar or ID chip.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
52 
20
His suing tells us a lot about him as a person . He could, instead, volunteer his time to work at the Humane Society and donate his money to the cause. If he really cares about animals, he would do that.
Personally, I would plan to stay away from this dude- Sue Happy.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
47 
23
Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Poorly-rated. Like or Dislike:
16 
26
That family is always suing someone!
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
32 
13
If it were me I would have been glad they hadn’t been euthanized. Frivilous lawsuit and if he loses he should be required to pay the legal fees of the other party.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
31 
9
The Jamestown Humane Society is a no-kill operation, for the record.
Like or Dislike:
16 
2
Thank you for the correction. I should think twice before posting sometimes. I really don’t know the facts in this case.
Like or Dislike:
9 
0
I wouldn’t say that at all! I just happened to have a volunteer nearby I could ask, that’s all.
Like or Dislike:
4 
1
This situation has gotten out of control. My daughter told me about a face book site that was set up to bash the man that sued to get his cats back. This is ridiculous and really is no good for our community. I read the postings and it’s absolutely bizarre how people in this community feel it necessary to write what they post. Some of these individuals are spouses of people in the insurance industry, in the insurance industry themselves, teachers, healthcare and a lot seem to be associated humane society itself. I can guarantee I will be letting people know not to do business with these individuals. This is bullying at it’s finest, by adults even! Everyone may have their opinion on this case but it shouldn’t have gone this far. If I was the man, I would be suing these individuals for deamation of character. No one knows all of the facts of this case. I’m sure he had a reason to sue, no one would just sue the humane society. The case will be determined by the courts. The humane society had the choice to return this man’s cats. If they would’ve returned the cats, there wouldn’t be a case. I’m sure the humane society never thought someone would actually sue them for thier pets back. I would also assume the humane society would automatically think the person who did have the nerve to sue would be criticized left and right for thier decision. These individuals need to grow up and start keeping their opinions to themselves. If my 14 year old daughter can see this information on face book, anyone can and the comments are not for a child to be reading.
Hot debate. What do you think?
16 
25
I’m not on Facebook. How are people finding out about this? I would imagine they don’t care if other people know what they think.
If those people are really as prominent as you say they are, I think here is a good place to advertise who is saying what and how everyone else can see for themselves.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
21 
2
It appears it was started by supporters of the humane society and by volunteers. What shocked me is how unprofessional these individuals are on the site. I don’t have face book either, my daughter said she saw it on there. She told me it is called “Really? Suing the humane society. Really?”
Like or Dislike:
14 
11
I looked at it on her computer, not sure how to access it myself.
Like or Dislike:
11 
4
Do you have a link to the page? I’d like to read what’s being posted.
Like or Dislike:
14 
2
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Really-Suing-the-Humane-Society-Really/441667892556690?fref=ts
Like or Dislike:
15 
3
Facebook has very low standards. It reminds me of the slam books the girls passed around when I was in elementary school. I won’t read a site that allows the f word to be used. Swearing should be caught before being posted. And to think young kids read this stuff ….
Like or Dislike:
15 
6
Speaking of low standards…the Sun printed a very one-sided article. After reading, one post in particular, which is on Facebook..the story makes much more sense.
Like or Dislike:
7 
10
So here is the reality of the situation, from my subjective personal and professional perspective as someone in the animal care/control field…
These were barn cats, plain and simple. They weren’t licensed pets, they weren’t microchipped, they didn’t have rabies/vaccinations or any documentation of existence in the first place. In essence, these cats never belonged to ANYONE… Including the plaintiff. They were stray cats by rule of law, whether they stayed on his land or not.
If a stray animal shows up at a shelter, they become the property of the shelter/county/governing body if ownership can’t be readily verified. And that means, they can be made available for adoption if the mechanisms and legal resources of the shelter allow them to house the animals rather than euthanize them.
In this case, they never had an owner, legally. He was free (and he declined in the case of the second cat just so he could pursue a civil suit) to become the legal owner of the cats at any time.
Look, it’s unfortunate that his barn cats wandered off, a neighbor picked them up so they wouldn’t starve or get hit by a car, and his niece was upset that they weren’t around. But the cold, hard, literal truth is that they never legally belonged to him in the first place, yet he still could easily have gotten them back and he chose to be lazy and unnecessarily litigious instead. At the risk of sounding insensitive about it, those kittens are likely going to live a much better life because of what transpired here.
This lawsuit is foolish, and there is absolutely nothing reasonable about what this man is citing as an excuse for it.
Like or Dislike:
6 
2