Cross post widely please!!!!

I got this e-mail this morning so please Cross Post!



Merlin is a Maine Coon boy about 7 years old and neutered. Belle is a domestic short hair girl, spayed, declawed front and back about 13 years old.

They came to the shelter from their owner who was in an abusive relationship. She was taking her child and moving in with her parents in South Carolina. Unfortunately they live in a retirement community that granted special permission for their daughter and grandchild to stay with them, but absolutely no animals are allowed.

The owner took the last weekend to transport some personal items down to her parents home, leaving her three cats in the care of a neighbor. When she returned on Monday she discovered one of her cats was dead. When I asked if the cat was old, she only commented " I know what happened". She told me Merlin and Belle have been with her since kittens, she took them everywhere she went. Merlin sat on her lap for the entire car ride to Key West where she lived for a time. As she told me how Merlin is great with kids and Belle has a thyroid condition that she couldn't afford the meds for anymore, my heart started breaking for this person. She asked me to forgive her because she had no emotions left after what she has been through, all the while she was stroking the cats and looking at them. Before she left Merlin and Belle in the lobby of the shelter she kissed them each and said how sorry she was for what they had been through. I knew there was little hope for Belle, but maybe, just maybe a chance for Merlin. She walked to the door and I said they seemed so close and they would miss each other (by this time I'm literally fighting back the tears as I am now), she agreed, said goodbye to them once again and was gone.

Taking them back I started crying like a baby - I wasn't going to euthanize Belle leaving Merlin so alone in the cat room, if they were going anywhere it would be together, whether it was to a rescue or to end their lives, they were meant to be with each other.

They are so bewildered and confused. I begging here to please consider helping them. If there is any hope of a rescue saving them, please contact me immediately. To house them in a cage for days waiting for a rescue to take them, then having to euthanize them would be inhumane and uncompassionate, that will not happen! So it is urgent if there is a rescue that can save Merlin and Belle, it must be SOON. Thank you.

Contact: Vernae or Anne 410-887-5961
Baltimore County Animal Control Shelter
Baldwin, MD 21013