# Man ordered to surrender his cat **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589 "2013-12-17T19:42:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/1 "2013-12-17T19:42:34Z")
[Lynx](http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2013/12/gladstone_man_must_give_up_pet.html). An Oregon man has been ordered to give up his pet lynx. He’s had the 16-year-old cat since it was ten days old. (A Seattle news program said this morning he’d rescued it from a fur factory.) > [@](#): > > [A] neighbor in the cul-de-sac heard Clark was keeping the cat in a cage in his backyard and complained to the city. > > “They can/will at any time snap and attack even their caregiver,” said Lucy Stoiber in a letter to the city. “They belong in the wild.” Yes, let’s put an animal that has never lived in the wild, which is nearing the end of her expected lifespan, and that, oh, by the way _has been declawed_, out to live a pastoral existence ‘in the wild’. :rolleyes: Lucy Stoiber is a horrible person. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/2 "2013-12-17T19:46:34Z")
As opposed to locked in a cage in the back yard? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/3 "2013-12-17T19:51:57Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > As opposed to locked in a cage in the back yard? As opposed to killing it. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/4 "2013-12-17T20:09:35Z")
Death is more humane than keeping a lynx locked in a box 24/7. It’s alive yes, but, where’s the quality of life? Also I don’t see where the letter writer recommending this particular lynx be set free. But lynx do not belong in a cage in a backyard for 16 years. That’s horrific. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/5 "2013-12-17T20:20:10Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Death is more humane than keeping a lynx locked in a box 24/7. It’s alive yes, but, where’s the quality of life? She’s been taken out for walks (on a leash). She receives attention from the family. Is it wrong to keep a cat locked in a house 24/7? Is it wrong to keep animals in zoos? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/6 "2013-12-17T20:35:43Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > She’s been taken out for walks (on a leash). She receives attention from the family. Is it wrong to keep a cat locked in a house 24/7? Is it wrong to keep animals in zoos? It’s also mentioned the cage is big enough for the owner to enter. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/7 "2013-12-17T20:39:30Z")
You’re right, I reacted to the word cage, picturing a dog crate sized box. It could be more of an enclosure. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/8 "2013-12-17T20:49:45Z")
They should let the lynx stay and send the neighbor to a shelter. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/9 "2013-12-17T20:50:29Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > [Lynx](http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-city/index.ssf/2013/12/gladstone_man_must_give_up_pet.html). > Yes, let’s put an animal that has never lived in the wild, which is nearing the end of her expected lifespan, and that, oh, by the way _has been declawed_, out to live a pastoral existence ‘in the wild’. :rolleyes: > > Lucy Stoiber is a horrible person. I assume she is talking about lynx’s in general, not this particular lynx. Notice she used “they” rather than “she”. Law preventing private ownership of large cats is a good thing, given how often the owners fail to take care of them properly. It is possible that this owner was the exception but he was in violation for the ordinance so them’s the breaks. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/10 "2013-12-17T20:54:12Z")
> [@Buck\_Godot](#): > > he was in violation for the ordinance so them’s the breaks. [http://www.katu.com/news/local/State-says-they-cant-budge-on-permit-for-war-veteran-236132491.html](http://www.katu.com/news/local/State-says-they-cant-budge-on-permit-for-war-veteran-236132491.html) > [@](#): > > Clark says the lynx was completely legal to own when he first bought her all those years ago, but that in 2009 lawmakers changed the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/11 "2013-12-17T20:54:41Z")
Was it named Dorothy? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/12 "2013-12-17T21:21:32Z")
It is wrong to keep animals like this as pets. BUT… > [@](#): > > Several months later, a neighbor in the cul-de-sac heard Clark was keeping the cat in a cage in his backyard and complained to the city. When I first read the OP, I naturally assumed that a neighbor was hearing the cat in the back yard and disturbed by the noise. Perfectly valid. But the person who complained got the info second-hand, she could get a big dose of mind your own business. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/13 "2013-12-17T21:31:30Z")
Oregon government bureaucracy must prevail no matter what. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2013, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/man-ordered-to-surrender-his-cat/676589/14 "2013-12-17T22:37:37Z")
[It’s on reddit](http://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/1t4cbb/urgent_help_needed_so_this_veteran_can_keep_and/).