Orange County Register

Now, from an odd marriage of the “crazy cat caper” and “going postal ” files:

The Huntington Beach Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service are investigating complaints that a mail carrier took two cats from a condo complex on Algonquin Street.

Missing:

• Pretty Preta, a medium-haired black-and-white who traveled here from Hong Kong, and whose affection for Sandra Cortes’s children is documented in adorable photos;
• and exotic Kalifornia, a playful (and expensive) Desert Lynx, whose huge paws feature six toes each. Owner Kurt Midness says he looks like a little bobcat.

Cortes has had Preta for 10 years; Midness had Kalifornia for almost seven. Both have filed police reports saying the felines were stolen - and because Kalifornia is an exotic breed that can cost some $800 per kitty, that complaint is for grand theft.

“”There is no evidence to support that any crime has even occurred at this point,” Huntington Beach Police Lieutenant Russell Reinhart told us by email.  “The cases have been assigned to our detective bureau for follow up.”

The post office is on the case as well. Read the rest of this entry »

The Banjo-the-kitten story struck an extremely raw nerve on the power-of-government vs. rights-of-the-individual front.

We were party to this exchange between one Jim Knapp and Mission Viejo Animal Services Manager Gail DeYoung, which we reproduce here so all sides get their say. The volley began on Friday, the day the story about the tug-of-war over the wandering kitten ran in the newspaper:

The city of Mission Viejo should be ashamed of themselves. When I read the story in the OC Register about the attempted ransom being collected for a kitten I could not believe what I was reading. What gives the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter the right to tell a citizen what they can and can not do with their personal property? After all, that is what this story is all about “personal property rights”…..the Director of Administrative Services for the shelter should resign in shame.

Jim Knapp, Orange County

De Young responded thusly: Read the rest of this entry »

(Update: Banjo will go home! )

Meet Banjo, the subject of an emotional tug-of-war between Kalli Linde and the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter.

Has Banjo been confiscated by holier-than-thou officials who think they know what’s best?

Is Linde an irresponsible pet owner endangering innocent feline lives who should not get the kitten back?

You decide.

IN THE BEGINNING

Kalli Linde is a single mom of three kids, and has fallen on rather hard financial times as of late. She recently took in a hungry stray cat who was prowling her complex’s dumpsters, who she named Raja.

Raja, it turns out, was pregnant. She gave birth to four kitties, including Banjo, and all four were vaccinated and dewormed - which cost about $100 per kitty, Linde said. Linde is now advertising the kitties for sale on craigslist, trying to recoup her costs.

Linde promised her kids they could keep one of the kittens. The children haven’t agreed yet on precisely which one, but Banjo is the current favorite of one of Linde’s daughters. Read the rest of this entry »