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Mason has made repeated requests to police and Animal Services for the return to the documents seized from his home on October 11. He has been flat out refused or ignored.
He has records of all the visits by Animal Services to his property including all orders to comply including demands to take specific cats in for vet treatment, as well as the actual vet notes and bills that prove he has complied.
He states that with one cat, he was issued orders to take the cat to the vet two times, and both times the vet said nothing was wrong with him, he is just old. Mason had those records. They have not been returned to him.
He was afraid Animal Services would destroy that cat because he was geriatric, and I am quite sure they have done so. When we get the records concerning impound and disposition of these cats we will let you know what happened to "Johny." Johny was the orange cat with the white face held by an officer in one of the photographs by the Daily News.
The vet records of all the treatments his cats have received over the past four years have not been returned to him.These would go to prove how well he has taken care of his cats.
The certificates of spay/neutering through the Amanda Foundation as well as from the vets who performed the S/N have not been returned to him. Records of the City vouchers he has used to get his cats altered have not been returned to him.
These records would go a long way to prove he was not neglecting his cats and although his property was offensive, and may have theoretically posed a health hazard, in fact, the animals were well taken care of medically. All the cats photographed appeared to be in good condition except several kittens in the cage which may or may not have Rhinotracheitis or some other illness Animal Services did not test for. Perhaps Jensen's request for impound photos will better show the cats' conditions.
Mason has not been allowed to see any of the evidence that will used against him. I personally would like to see the original complaint that led to his arrest warrant and see if it mentions panleukemia.
You see, Mason is being railroaded. He has no money or lawyer to defend himself. They will not even let him see the evidence to be presented to the judge on November 6, or allow him to regain access to his own records.
Mason also stated that the list of articles seized by the police that was given to him was incomplete; it did not list many items actually taken such as cages, traps and notes of visits from Animal Services and his compliance to their requests.
In other words, THEY, meaning Boks as their mouthpiece, have all the marbles and THEY are not giving him anything to defend himself.
By the way, Mason has not been told the whereabouts of any of his cats, nor do we even know how many animals were impounded. Dana Bartholomew was told 50 were impounded. Mason was told 39 were impounded and he had surrendered 12 kittens earlier in the week--these were the kittens killed because the parvo kits said they had feline leukemia. This adds up to 51.
Boks said 25 of the cats seized from Mason were killed and all of the kittens. If 25 were killed, what happened to the remaining 26 adults? They are all missing. Do Boks numbers include the estimated 6-12 kittens taken days before the raid and who were killed?
Boks in his official LAAS website post stated 12 healthy adults were seized and apparently were used as a breeding stock. Ed is now accusing Mason of deliberately breeding cats, when it was Mason who was trying to get Animal Services to take the cats away--and they refused. Mason said 3/4 of the indoor cats they seized were altered. Boks says few were altered. Again, the records will tell.
So how many adults were taken? Where are they? Was Johny, the elderly cat Mason has been caring for for three years, killed because he was too old?
What happened to Burt, another orange cat who had been hit by a car three years ago and for whom Mason provided orthopedic surgery which required insertion of a 6" permanent surgical pin and which left him with a permanent limp? And, of course, what happened to Muffin?
Pictures of the cats:
http://lang.dailynews.com/socal/flash/cat_slideshow/gallery.swf
Johny is the orange and white cat being held by a woman in a blue jumpsuit in the driveway of Mason's property. He does not look especially old, ill or crippled to me. I would like to see the impound notes and photo of this cat.
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What an incredibly sad situation for everyone. Please, if anyone knows a lawyer who can help this guy, call him. He needs help.
ReplyDeleteI have a very old cat in my house. If Animal Control came and saw him, they'd take him and kill him? That can't be right. My cat is old and happy. He purrs, loves to eat, he just has arthritis from an old injury and limps a little all over. A scary world we live in.
ReplyDeleteThe city cannot destroy any evidence without a judge's approval and order. By instantly killing his cats, the city broke the law. The case will be dismissed if someone brings this up. Mason had no chance to look at the "evidence" or have his vet look at the evidence and give an opinion. Maybe the cats just had a mild URI. We'll never know for sure now.
ReplyDeleteThe more I read about this the more I think the city government of LA has gone psychotic. A person's civil rights has been violated. Property was destroyed before the man was proven guilty. I thought people in this country were innocent until proven guilty. The people of LA need to be dam scared at what is going on. This is also a CLASS ISSUE. If this man was rich, none of this would probably happen.
ReplyDelete