‘It’s important that we look out for each other’ woman says after cat left in trash
Bellingham police are investigating after a cat was harmed by a stranger then placed into a dumpster in the Roosevelt neighborhood earlier this week.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, Bellingham police responded to an animal abuse report in the 2300 block of Queen Street, according to Bellingham Police Lt. Claudia Murphy.
Brooke Eolande said one of her neighbors reached out to her while she was at work on Wednesday to tell her that they found her 4-year-old cat, Rainbow, unresponsive in a dumpster.
The neighbor said a group of neighbors were standing in an alley behind Eolande’s house talking when they saw a man on a bicycle ride by. The man stopped a few houses down, took something out of his backpack and threw it into a garbage can, Eolande told The Bellingham Herald.
Eolande’s neighbor, who lived at the house associated with the trash can and came home at the moment the man was dumping the cat, looked into the garbage can and saw Rainbow, Eolande said.
Some of the neighbors chased after the man on the bicycle, but he got away, Eolande said.
Her neighbors thought Rainbow was dead because he was unresponsive, but later determined he was still breathing, she said. Rainbow was then taken by Animal Control to Maplewood Animal Hospital, Eolande said.
Veterinarians examined him, but didn’t find any serious injuries. They said Rainbow had a low body temperature and was mostly likely shaken, Eolande said. Rainbow came home after about an hour, and once he warmed up, he perked up a little, but wouldn’t walk or jump, she said.
On Friday, she said he seemed better, but was still obviously scared.
“I feel really upset when I think about what would have happened if our neighbor hadn’t come home at just the right time,” Eolande said. “If nobody had seen the perpetrator throw him in the garbage, he almost certainly would have died. I also try not to think about how scared he must have been. He was a very trusting cat and had never had a person hurt him before. He must have been so confused and shocked.”
Eolande said she reported the incident to Bellingham police later that night. She said Rainbow has been an indoor/outdoor cat his entire life, but that she plans to keep him inside until a suspect is caught.
Murphy said the suspect is unknown at this time.
Eolande said she worries that the actions of the person who harmed Rainbow will escalate, adding, “It’s important that we look out for each other.”
In early September, Bellingham police and the Whatcom County Humane Society began investigating the deaths of two cats after they were found dead on East Maryland Street and Civic Field Way, respectively.
The first cat’s death was initially attributed to being hit by a car, but the discovery of a second prompted the deaths to be investigated together, a police press release said at the time.
On Thursday, Nov. 14, Murphy said there were no updates to the investigation involving the cats.
On Friday, the Whatcom Feline Alliance announced it was offering a reward for any information leading to the arrest of the suspect in Wednesday’s incident.
“Since this guy was seen in the daylight, now if we do offer a reward, maybe we can put this all to rest. We want this to stop,” Chelsea Mathews, the founder and director of the Whatcom Feline Alliance, told The Bellingham Herald.
The Whatcom Feline Alliance is a nonprofit organization that cares exclusively for Whatcom County cats and only adopts out locally, Mathews said.
Mathews said they’ve never offered a reward for identifying a suspect, but did collect donations for vet bills when cats in the Sunnyland neighborhood were shot last July. The vet bills had already been paid, so the collection money went toward gift boxes for the cats, which had to become indoor-only cats, Mathews said.
“At this point, we’re so close to putting a face to the person and getting them, we think offering an incentive would be helpful,” Mathews told The Herald.
Mathews said that these types of incidents often spark a community conversation, most of which played out on various social media sites this week, about whether cats should stay indoors or remain indoor/outdoor felines. Mathews said it’s not always possible for cats to be strictly indoors, and that it doesn’t really solve the problem.
She said while police are still searching for a suspect, people can try building a “catio,” or a screened in porch or patio for their cat, or walk their cats on a leash with a harness. Mathews also advised people to get their pets micro-chipped.
“We just want to restore harmony to the neighborhoods and not have people living in fear and prevent this from escalating to further harm to our community,” Mathews told The Herald. “I think it’s just time for it to stop.”
At this time, it’s unclear whether the incidents of animal abuse over the past year are related, said Laura Clark, Executive Director of the Whatcom Humane Society.
Clark said anyone with information about suspected animal cruelty or neglect should contact the Whatcom Humane Society animal control department or Bellingham police.
