ST. LOUIS — How far would you go to get back a lost pet? That's a question several people asked 5 On Your Side after seeing a social media post about a St. Louis woman's battle with a local animal shelter.
When Zoe McKelvie's cat, Basil, went missing, she said she looked everywhere in her South City neighborhood to find her.
“We were going out at night,” McKelvie said. “We were looking under people’s cars, people’s porches ... we probably looked like crazy people.”
McKelvie said she never thought she would potentially find her cat online at CARE STL, a local animal shelter.
“I was really just happy that my cat was in safe hands, and I was going to be able to have her returned,” McKelvie said.
However, during the search for Basil, another incident connected McKelvie to CARE. A friend found two cats dumped behind a business, so the friend and McKelvie took them to the Humane Society.
“That’s when we found out the cats were chipped to CARE,” McKelvie said.
McKelvie said she never thought saving dumped cats would lead to a negative interaction with CARE staff, which she recorded.
“They wouldn’t let me in the door,” McKelvie said. “The woman was blocking it with her body like this. They basically treated me like I was some sort of hostile entity.”
McKelvie shared photos of her cat and the cat in CARE's shelter that she believes is hers.
5 On Your Side reached out to CARE STL, which provided the statement on the incident:
As the city animal control shelter's managing partner, CARE STL intakes nearly 3,000 animals a year. Approximately 20% of these intakes are returned to owners. We thoroughly assess the information provided by alleged owners to ensure animals are being released to the correct family. Part of our contractual obligations as the shelter partner for animal control is to ensure any animal released from our shelter (whether through adoption or return to its owner) is spayed or neutered. This ordinance can anger owners who want to continue illegally breeding their pets. This is a very delicate matter that our staff has to go through daily.
We initially received the cat in question on Jan. 27 when a property owner found her abandoned in an empty apartment building. On Jan. 30, the cat left for foster (over half of the animals in our care are in foster homes). Ms. McKelvie spoke to our staff on Jan. 31 regarding the possibility that the cat in our care was hers. After carefully reviewing the photos and vet records Ms. McKelvie provided as proof of ownership, our staff concluded it wasn't the same animal and informed Ms. McKelvie of this. Ms. McKelvie emailed back and said she'd appreciate the opportunity to come at least to look at the cat - our staff said okay and let her know she'd contact the foster and coordinate a time for the cat to come back to the shelter so the alleged owner can see for herself. We were still waiting for a response back from the foster at that point.
On Feb. 1, another local shelter called CARE and informed us that Ms. McKelvie had found two cats in a dumpster that afternoon and brought them to this other shelter. We were incredibly upset to learn these cats were found in a dumpster and found it to be extremely suspicious that she was the one who found them and then gave the cats (including the one she thought was hers) to this shelter. The shelter was also very confused by her story and would only release the animals into our custody. Ms. McKelvie then showed up at CARE to view the cat in question. In light of the circumstances surrounding how the cat was found, we didn't feel comfortable allowing her in the building, especially since it had already been determined that it wasn't her cat. While our staff informed Ms. McKelvie that she wasn't allowed on the property, the foster called CARE and reported that they were moving and the cats had been stolen from their car when they left to get a few more things from their house. When they came back to their car, the cats were gone. Our staff informed Ms. McKelvie she would review the information again to ensure the cat in our care was not the same cat she was looking for. Again, after very careful consideration, it was determined they were not the same cat based on the discrepancies in the cat's markings, age, teeth, and weight. Suppose our staff sounds frustrated or argumentative in the conversation with Ms. McKelvie. In that case, it's because we'd already spoken to her multiple times about it not being her cat and the suspicious circumstances of the cats being stolen, winding up in a dumpster, then at another shelter.
On Feb. 2, Ms. McKelvie showed up at CARE with two police officers to try to see the cat in question. The officers saw our shelter cat, looked at Ms. McKelvie's photos, and immediately agreed it was not the same cat. To provide Ms. McKelvie with some peace of mind, though, we agreed to let her view the cat in person, accompanied by the police officer, so she could see for herself that it wasn't her cat. She continued to argue with the police officer and with us until we asked her to please leave. While they look similar, we're certain it wasn't her cat because our cat has juvenile teeth, not that of a 4 to 5-year-old cat, and there's a four pounds weight difference between them (which is a lot for cats). Even though Ms. McKelvie's cat had been missing for a week, that's not enough time to lose that much weight, especially with how healthy the cat in our care is. Lastly, this cat was originally picked up by the finder approximately 15 minutes from Ms. McKelvie's residence.
“If you don’t believe it’s my cat, we can have a different conversation than all of the hostility they’ve treated me with,” McKelvie said. “At the end of the day, I want my cat back.”
CARE STL is referring the case to Animal Control to investigate.
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