A sympathetic Elgin family concerned with animal welfare found that the police will help you, but only when they want to.
Tuesday morning, Wilmarie Cancel found a pet carrier cage on the front steps of her apartment building. Inside were a gray housecat, food, and a litter box. A note was attached, saying the cat inside was healthy, female, 6 years old, and up to date on all its shots.
Someone obviously cared for the abandoned pet.
Cancel desperately wanted to help the little animal, but her apartment building didn't allow cats. Also, her three children—ages 3 to 6—all have eczema, a skin condition often aggravated by animal fur.
Determined to find the cat a good home, she called Kane County Animal Control, but Elgin doesn't have a contract with them. Cancel tried calling the Anderson Animal Shelter, but sadly the refuge was already filled to capacity with cats.
According to the Courier-News, she then turned to the Elgin Police. But when Cancel called, an officer told her the department only helps abandoned dogs.
Feline discrimination?
Local
When Cancel's husband, Edmund Rosado, called police again later, the same officer told him "to drive to Marengo and turn [the cat] loose at a ranch" and if the couple showed up to "drop off the cat at the police station, [police] would arrest him."
"Why do they have to intimidate us to come to the police department? We're residents of Elgin, and my husband works hard to pay their salaries," Cancel said.
Despite the warning, Rosado and Cancel went to the police station Tuesday night with the cat. After giving them a dirty look, the officer whom they spoke with on the phone "picked up the cat cage, put it on the front steps, and let the cat go and told us to leave."
The poor cat, which someone had loved enough to try to find a new home, which had been provided with medicine and food, was now lost on the streets.
Thanks a lot, Officer.
Shocked at what happened, Cancel and Rosado tried to follow the cat's prints in the snow, but they lost the trail.
Elgin Police Deputy Chief Jeff Swoboda said the department is investigating the matter.
Matt Bartosik is a Chicago native and a social media sovereign.
