by Dennis Dalman
At long last, Cougar the Cat is back where he belongs, at his home in Sartell with his human family, David Eckhof and Lisa Vollbrecht.
Cougar is one of 104 cats rescued one day in early April from a house in Crosby, a small town in Crow Wing County. Police in Crosby were informed of cruelty and animal neglect at the house. When they investigated, the cats were removed, with help from the Minnesota Federated Humane Societies. The MFHS then contacted animal shelters throughout the state to find out which, if any, could accommodate so many cats in desperate need of help. Eleven of the cats were in such dire condition, they had to be euthanized.
Flash forward to St. Cloud. As luck would have it, for some unknown reason there was not the usual big influx of stray or missing cats this spring at the St. Cloud-based Tri-County Humane Society; thus, there was open shelter space there. Tri-County agreed to shelter the cats and kittens – all 93 of them.
On April 11, upon the cats’ arrival at Tri-County, the staff there assigned each one a name and number (one of them being “Pike-81”). Then they meticulously cleaned, medically diagnosed, treated for fleas, fed and lavished tender loving care on all the critters in their cages.
One of the cats was found to have been fitted with an I.D. micro-chip. Information from that chip indicated the cat’s owners lived in Crosby. They were notified of the lucky find. Happily astonished, the people drove to St. Cloud to reunite with the cat they hadn’t seen for seven long years.
TCHS posted photos of the rescued cats on its website.
Gone missing
On Oct. 13 of last year, a cat named Cougar disappeared from the Sartell home of Lisa Vollbrecht and David Eckhof while they were gone doing a brief errand. Devastated by the loss, they never gave up looking for Cougar, even putting up a warmed tent in their yard during the winter months – hoping Cougar would somehow find his way back home.
A happy find
Flash forward to April of this year. Eckhof and Vollbrecht, in their desperate search for Cougar, would often check websites, including the one of the local humane society. One day, they were astonished to see an online photo of a cat who was a dead-ringer for Cougar. They contacted TCHS, then they emailed photos of Cougar whom they had adopted about 10 years ago when he was a kitten.
Staff members at the humane society checked the photos with the cats in their custody. And sure enough, the pictures bore a striking resemblance to the orange-black-russet colored “Pike-81.” A closer comparison revealed identical markings – a white tip on his tail, black V-markings on both sides of his face. The staff were just as astonished at the match as Cougar’s owners.
Reunion
On April 13, Cougar’s owners arrived at TCHS animal shelter to reclaim their precious pet. When they arrived, a crew from Kare-11 TV, Twin Cities, just happened to be there filming a story about the 93 rescued cats. The news crew and the TCHS staff were delighted to share the story of Cougar.
A staff member picked up Cougar from his cage and brought him to Lisa, whose eyes misted up with tears as she took Cougar, called him “sweetheart,” hugged and petted him. Other eyes in the room misted up, too, including those of TCHS Executive Director Marit Ortega.
“I had tears in my eyes and goosebumps,” she said later during an interview with the Newsleaders. “Our pets bring so much joy to our lives.”
Reaching out to hold Cougar, David grinned widely and said, “Oh! There’s our boy!”
He noted that Cougar had gone missing Oct. 13, six months ago – to the day – that he was reunited, April 13.
“We like the number 13,” David said, “but now (the lucky number) is 81, I guess,” referring to the number that had been assigned to their rescued pet.
How did Cougar get all the way from Sartell to Crosby? Nobody knows. It’s still a mystery. Cats don’t talk.
Cats’ update
The good news? All the rescued cats are getting healthier day by day, and some (about 20) have already been adopted into “forever families.”
Some of the cats, including two litters of kittens and their mothers, are living temporarily in the homes of foster care volunteers.
“When we first got them, some were severely underweight, and some were severely overweight,” said TCHS’s Ortega.
Quite a few, she noted, had upper respiratory infections and other medical problems that required ongoing treatments.
“We want to make sure they’re strong and healthy before they’re available for adoption,” Ortega said. “It’s hard work for the staff members, especially all at once – so many cats.”
There are 30 paid staff members, full-time or part-time, at TCHS and about 200 active volunteers. All have been putting in extra time because of the influx of 93 cats so in need of help.
“They (staff, volunteers) are all such givers,” Ortega said.
At least 30 of the “Crosby cats” are now in good enough condition to be adopted. To see those cats, visit the TCHS website at tricountyhumanesociety.org.
Help needed
There are many ways residents can help TCHS do its work, anytime of the year, but especially now after the influx of the “Crosby” cats.
One can make a donation, adopt a cat (or dog or other pet), become a pet foster parent, be a volunteer or participate in TCHS’s fundraising events.
To find out those ways to help (and more) visit the website at tricountyhumanesociety.org.
Lucky Cougar is happy to be back home, reunited after a six-month absence from his human family. He was one of the 93 cats taken in by the Tri-County Humane Society after suffering abuse and neglect in a house in Crosby.
Tre-County Humane Society (TCHS) staff member and animal-care technician Kallie Braun holds one of the cats rescued from a hellish life in a house in Crosby where more than 100 cats and kittens were subjected to abuse and neglect.
This is Tay, one of the 93 cats sheltered at the Tri-County Humane Society after being rescued from a house in Crosby where they endured neglect and cruelty. Now up for adoption, Tay is an 11-month-old female who has been spayed. For more, visit the TCHS website at tricountyhumanesociety.org
