Who We Are
We are supporters and former employees of the Hermitage Cat Shelter. We believe in the mission of the Hermitage, as it has been stated for 5 years:Actively seeking permanent, loving homes for the cats in our care Providing lifelong care to those cats who for behavioral or medical reasons are unable to be re-homed Educating the public about responsible companion animal guardianship
Facts
On May 28th, 2008, a group of concerned employees, volunteers, and donors attended a board meeting in an attempt to get information about recent radical changes in policy and staff. The board refused to address the questions. Within a week, all but one of the staff members had been fired or resigned. Simultaneously, the majority of the volunteers and donors were turned away and denied access.By June 5th, 2008, there was no medical staff that could identify all the cats. There were 80 medications dispensed daily at that time. We don’t know how many cats failed to receive their daily medications, or how many became ill because of lack of adequate familiarity with the cat population.
The current shelter management has admitted to putting down 50 cats in that following six weeks—more cats in six weeks than the yearly totals in the past three years. We believe that most were put down for financial reasons, not for medical or quality of life concerns. This is a violation of one of the stated missions of the shelter.
Long-term, special needs, and reclusive cats continue to disappear from the shelter. Meanwhile, the shelter's incoming population is almost exclusively quickly-adopted kittens from the Pima Animal Care Center.
The Hermitage’s new barn relocation programs might be considered an option for ferals already living outdoors, but not cats already living for a long period of time indoors. Many of the non-euthanized ferals have been at the shelter for 5+ years and have become semi-socialized, i.e. volunteers were able to feed and pet these shy cats. It would be cruel and inhumane to relocate them to a strictly outdoor environment.
