COLONIAL HEIGHTS, Va. -- Animal welfare workers are desperately hoping someone can help identify a woman who dumped a cat outside the Colonial Heights Animal Shelter before the facility opened Wednesday morning.
While surveillance video shows the woman breaking the law, officials are more concerned about getting answers to explain the cat's bizarre behavior.
Security camera catches woman dumping cat at shelter.
"We don't know if the cat has a health problem and that's why the cat is aggressive towards humans. We don't know if the cat is declawed or not, they haven't even been able to get close enough tot he cat to determine the sex of it at this point," Sgt. Rob Ruxer with Colonial Heights Police said.
The cat's seemingly aggression nature has employees keeping its cage covered and avoiding the animal.
"The fact we know nothing about it -- we don't know what the cat has been through, we don't know where the cat came from, we don't know if the cats vaccinated, spayed," said Clydeine Adamchick, a volunteer at the shelter.
Sgt. Rob Ruxer with the Colonial Heights Police
Abandoning an animal unattended outside an animal shelter is a Class 3 Misdemeanor in Virginia in an effort to prevent the unthinkable from taking place.
In fact, the security camera system was installed at the shelter because of the high number of drop offs they have experienced in the past.
Even with the system, the shelter still averages about one drop off a month, which is a big concern for another reason, according to Sgt. Ruxer.
"There are coyotes and foxes in this area and even though the cat was dropped off in a small cage, a coyote would have been able to break into that cage and get to that animal," Adamchick said.
The cat.
The cat remains in seclusion while employees trying to give the animal time to become acclimated with its new surroundings. Workers at the shelter are hoping he or she will make progress. so that it can be adopted. If the feline does not improve and can not be adopted, it will likely be euthanized.
"While we do everything we can to prevent having to euthanize Animals, it does happen occasionally, if the animal is unadoptable or it's health is so bad that we can't help it at all," Ruxer said.
If you have information that can help the shelter identity the woman or the cat, call 804-520-9397.
