Please follow the link below to sign the petition to return Linda Johnson's 96 cats

Crossposted from other site

She is a well respected animal rescuer who had her cats confiscated by Virgina Beach Animal Control. Thanks for your time and I will also attach another link for background info...Catlover

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takea...076442313&sign[partner_userID]=818481029&sign[memberID]=818481029&sign[partnerID]=1

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories...760&ran=231029

By Sharon Berry

When I first read this I thought collecter but having read several articles, I now think shelter.

They spend thousands on medical care, food, litter. Every room bar one was clean with big cat trees etc and litter trays and feeding stations.

The only 'mess' found in the house was a large tiled room with the problem cats who refuse to use litter tray lived. The lady was cleaning this room when the officals turned up.

All this mess was trigged by a lady who had adopted an healthy kitten from Linda Johnson and returned it sick a week later. The lady wanted to swap ill kitten for healthy one, as she didn't want to take the sick kitten to the vets !!! :mad:

Linda refused a new kitten, if the lady didn't look after one , why would she look after another ? She also kept the adoption fee to look after the ill kitten. The lady threatened her that Linda would be sorry and reported her messy house

Another MAJOR reason I am getting my numbers down and no longer taking any new rescues in! This type of thing is happening all over now, it's the new "thing" in our home town ... I would be DEVASTATED if someone showed up on my door step on the wrong day!!! :(

I signed it. There is a FAR cry from a cat hoarder to a cat rescuer. Linda Johnson is a rescuer who CARE for all her rescues. I think that this is one sick vendetta by a vindictive woman. I will keep Linda and her cats in my thoughts and prayers!!

Yes, I signed too, of course. Jan had sent me the news on this sad story and it is unfortunatly very similar to what one of the rescuers on the Boston North Shore is going through.
She got a call (because is a known rescue org from her home) from someone who HAD to get rid of his cat - he seemed to be an animal lover and concerned very much about the cat's well-being. Brought the cat to L's house and surrendered it for adoption, then later reported her to animal control in Danver's (I think-that's the town she's in but not sure exactly to whom he reported what) as a "hoarder". So she may be in big trouble because of the elaborate but great system she runs at home, her husband made these huge great cages in the basement for ferals with classical music playing all the time, she does her own vaccines, fluids, you name it and all of the cats are under the best of care. It's a warm and animal loving home-she does public fundraising and has for years and years and now this guy makes a call and the city has their quoto on how many pets one can have so...Just cuz of city rules...We are very worried about this situation.

Signed! That is so terrible. :( They better return her cats!!! :mad:

I signed it.This is appauling you can see how clean the house is and how many cat things they have.If she was cleaning the one room and had all the records the paper says and all the information and it was even resonably clean they should not have taken the cats out.They know what hoarders houses look and smell like.They are awful.This infuriates me.The cats were probably much better off there than where they are now.I am so :mad: I could scream.They act before they look and in all the puppy mills and auctions they sit on their butts and let the animals suffer horrendous abuse and here they close a rescue.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
I will stop my rant now.
Laurie

I signed! With tears in my eyes:(

That is of corse , otrageous taht an idiot can affect the lives of those Cats , amny of them who have had the best home that they will ever have. With 14 Cats , I am now worried , as an enemy could easily turn me in!

Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the recent seizure of ninety-six cats from a home in Virginia Beach. First, I want to let you know staff has assured me that all of the cats are being professionally cared for at our Animal Control facility. These cats have been under the care of a local veterinarian and all seem to be doing fine. Staff welcomes visitors during business hours to personally see the condition of the cats and put their concerns to rest.

We are happy to report two of the cats have been returned to their actual owners after Mrs. Johnson identified them as not belonging to her. She was able to tell staff who the cats belonged to, and the cats went home with their owners. Mrs. Johnson stated these were the only two cats that belonged to other people. Since she has stated the remainder of the cats belong to her, it is not anticipated any additional animals will be turned over to anyone at this time. Unfortunately, one cat was euthanized at the request of Mrs. Johnson prior to the case being heard in General District Court. She had been considering this course of action for this cat prior to the seizure.

Concerns have been voiced that Mrs. Johnson was singled out for some reason, or that the officer assigned to this case did not investigate the complaint properly. I would like to provide information I believe will clarify the situation. Two animal control officers were assigned to this case, and both officers interviewed the person placing the complaint prior to seeking a search warrant. After the interviews, both officers believed that the best way to handle this case would be to approach Mrs. Johnson with a search warrant available. An animal control supervisor was also involved in approving the affidavit for the search warrant. When the animal control officer went to the Magistrate's Office, the court magistrate agreed there was probable cause for a search warrant based upon the information provided and issued a search warrant.
The day the search warrant was executed, two animal control officers and a police officer were on the scene. While an animal control officer in the Commonwealth of Virginia may obtain a search warrant, the warrant must be executed by a police officer or sheriff. When the officers went into the home, they found that the cats were being kept in the same poor conditions that had been described to them. Since these conditions were the original basis for the probable cause for the warrant, the search warrant was executed and the cats were removed from the home. If no violations had been found, the cats would not have been
removed. In addition, an animal control supervisor arrived at the dwelling soon after the cats began to be

removed and agreed that the actions taken were appropriate for the conditions found inside the home. It is important to note that the supervisor on the scene was not the same supervisor who approved the affidavit. Therefore, two separate animal control supervisors agreed that this action was appropriate.

Questions have been raised concerning a dog on the property at the time of the seizure and why this dog was not seized. The dog was kept outside of the dwelling, in a dog run with adequate shelter, and there was no basis to seize the dog.

Concerns have also been raised that the cats were left outside in crates and it took many hours to remove them. Staff reports that at no time were any cats kept outside in the cold and snow. Heated animal control trucks continually arrived at the Johnson home to remove the cats, and the cats were sent directly to the Animal Control facility after being loaded into the trucks. The removal did take several hours due to the time it took to catch, identify and transport ninety-six cats.

This case has been heard in the General District Court of Virginia Beach, and the judge hearing the case agreed that the defendant should not be allowed to own ninety-six cats. Clearly, and by the Johnsons' own admissions, ninety-six cats were more animals than they could properly care for.

The City of Virginia Beach in no way questions the good intentions of the Johnsons and does not wish to stop any legitimate companion animal rescue group. However, there are certain laws that companion animal rescue organizations must follow. Regardless of any license issued by the City, if these organizations do not properly care for their animals, Animal Control must step in and look out for the animals' welfare. One of the major purposes of the Animal Control Bureau is to make sure that the animal cruelty laws are vigorously enforced to make sure that animals do not needlessly suffer.

In order to make sure accepted procedures were followed during this investigation that resulted in the removal of the cats, the Chief of Police has asked the Police Department's Professional Standards Office to investigate the actions of Animal Control staff. The inquiry will be thorough and policies may or may not be changed based upon the outcome of the inquiry.

The Animal Control Bureau is dedicated to animal welfare and to finding homes for animals instead of simply euthanizing them. 843 fewer animals were euthanized in 2003 than in 2002. In addition, the adoption numbers have increased, and the Bureau returned over 2,100 animals to their owners. In October of 2003, the Animal Control Bureau initiated a mandatory spay and neuter program for all cats and dogs adopted from the Bureau. Ultimately, this policy should help reduce the number of unwanted dogs and cats in Virginia Beach. These efforts are an indication of the commitment of the Superintendent of Animal Control and his staff to continuing to look for ways to improve the work of their Bureau.

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. While you may not agree with the actions taken, it is hoped this information is helpful in understanding the reasons behind them. Please be assured the employees of the Virginia Beach Animal Control Bureau are dedicated to the animals and will continue to look out for their welfare.

Sincerely,



Meyera E. Oberndorf
Mayor

Interesting....No mention of what the poor conditions are.

They still haven't stated a reason for removing the cats, the only piece of information which people are interested in.

I signed it. I am at work and used my home e-mail address. Hope that is o.k.

My first thoughts too! I'd like to see the list they have of what constitutes "poor conditions". Not a news account that may be false. The real report. Seemed like the mayor was avoiding revealing that for whatever reason. And yet the "poor conditions" are the heart and matter of this whole scenario...

From the description of their home and the obvious CARE given to these cats, this is just terribly wrong to take them all away like that. These cats must be awfully confused and I am sure some are traumatized.

I strongly believe the woman who turned this in 'for revenge' should be made to answer for her actions.

I pray that each cat is adopted to a good loving home and that Linday will be able to take many of her cats back home.

Howdy Fellow Cat Lovers,
We're over a month into this fight and it's going to probably get very nasty before it's all said and done.
As far as the "expert" Vet care that the cats are supposedly receving, suffice it to say that the Doctor providing it wouldn't be allowed to look at photos of my cats, let alone treat them.
Mayor Oberndorf's letter is chocked full of misinformation and several factual errors and most of these can be found on the website I've established for Linda Johnson.
http://www.savelindas96.freeservers.com

I've been in the Johnson home and there's no smell, but I dare say that keeping the cats in 2x2x2 cages 24 hours a day with no human contact and no exercise is pretty cruel in an of itself. You'd think that the Vet the City has would know this, so I guess that shows how much of an expert she is.:rolleyes:

Linda and Larry are good people and don't deserve this treatment. That's why I've entered into this fray and taken their side.
All I ask is you look over the website, read all the related stories and judge for yourself if Linda and Larry are being treated fairly. Then I ask you to spread the word to everyone that you can.

The mayor of Virginia Beach sent that very letter out to people all over the WORLD, so that should tell you that as the trial date approaches, the City is trying to do some damage control, they need to.