[sillysaurus2]

I upvoted you not because of the moralistic call to action ("save the pets" is as old and tired as "think of the children") but because it's true: my indoor/outdoor cat was stolen by someone who seemed to then be in process of selling him. The only reason I got him back is because I kept a GPS tracker on his collar for just this reason, and it led me straight to her house. She was very surprised when I showed up at her door.

So yes, it happens and it's very sad. I don't know whether there's anything to be done though. Bad things happen all the time.

[meowface]

Out of curiosity, what did the person have to say once you showed up?

This is effectively kidnapping and should be prosecuted as a felony, really.

[sillysaurus2]

I had been wandering around my neighborhood for 48 hours calling my cat's name looking for him after his GPS mysteriously shut off. It was about 2AM and I was walking past his last known location according to the GPS. I called his name and heard him meowing. The meowing was coming from the sunporch of the house at that location. I was so relieved to find him that I went up to the house and opened the door of the sunporch to let him out. Luckily the door was unlocked otherwise I would hav cut the screen to get to him. He was very groggy and his collar was missing. After I got him home I discovered that he had been neutered. I came back the next night and confronted her about it. She wouldn't open the door for me, saying she "never opens the door for anyone she doesn't know." I was recording on my phone but it ran out of space about 8 minutes in. She was obviously guilty but there was no hard evidence and I never pursued the matter. He recently died of the cancer he was born with, and the reason I don't have any kitties is because she neutered him. Otherwise his legacy would have survived, because I was going to breed him and raise his kittens myself. Now all that's left of him are my memories and my photos. I love you scuzzle. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/315/random_pics/scuzzle.JPG

[Tycho]

So someone abducted your cat, imprisoned it, mutilated it and... You didn't go to the police?

[sillysaurus2]

What was done was done. I looked it up and most legal cases of this type are concerned with awarding property damages. The damages top off at around $2-4k iirc, and that's for special cases like breeder animals (used in the context of a business) being harmed, or show animals. Pretty much any animal that you're making money from, you can get damages for. Society doesn't value pet life like human life, and wasting my time exacting revenge on that worthless excuse of a human wasn't my priority, no. At least I got to spend another 1.5 years with him before he died of cancer.

One argument is that I should have gone to the police to make them think twice about doing this to other cats. But paying $1k worth of damages would not dissuade people like that.

[selfexperiments]

Glad you got your cat back! The GPS collar is a brilliant idea.

[sillysaurus2]

It was a Zoombak in case anyone wants to try it (though I haven't used their new model). Their website actually worked on my iPhone, so it was very easy to drive right to where he was and pick him up.