LEWISTON — One of two cats found trapped in a crate in the woods has died, Androscoggin Humane Society director Steve Dostie said Friday.
The male black cat died late Wednesday from a respiratory infection.
Being trapped for a week in hot weather without food or water contributed to the cat’s death, Dostie said. That abuse is unusual, he said, adding that the shelter staff is upset.
“Whoever did this has an evil mind,” Dostie said. Some people abandon an animal by letting it loose. That’s wrong, he said, but the animal has a chance of surviving. Trapping helpless animals where they won’t be found “knowing there’s no hope for them, knowing they will die, is absolutely the worst,” he said.
“There’s no excuse for doing this.” If someone has an animal they can no longer keep, “the shelter’s right here,” Dostie said. “We don’t charge people. We don’t judge people. If they can’t take care of them, bring them to us. We’re quite upset to think someone did this, knowing the cats would die. We’re lucky a person discovered them.”
The two male cats were found Monday abandoned in a dog crate in the woods off the Stetson Road in Auburn. A woman who lives in the neighborhood heard the cats yowling. She followed the cats’ cries and found them in the woods in the crate.
Wendell Strout, animal control officer for Lewiston and Auburn, estimated the cats were confined in the crate for about a week. Their fur was mattered, the crate filled with feces and urine.
The neighbor took the cats to the Lewiston Emergency Veterinary Clinic, where they were treated, then brought to the humane society shelter. At the shelter the staffed named the cats Brooks and Dunn. Dostie estimated they are 3 or 4 years old.
Dunn is healthy and doing well, Dostie said. He’s being kept in isolation to ensure he does not have an infection. Dostie expects Dunn will be available for adoption in 10 days.
Anyone with information on how the cats were left off the Stetson Road is asked to call the shelter at 783-2311 or the animal control officer at 513-3111. With one of the cats dead, someone could be facing criminal cruelty to animals, or aggravated cruelty, Strout said Friday.
To see video of the surviving cat, Dunn, go to https://www.sunjournal.com/node/193602/
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