April 28, 2012

Dear Sir,

I am compelled to write anyone and everyone I can find in your corporation that may have a conscience. As I can not stand by and let you tear down everything I and others like me have worked for and believe in.

It is certainly a shame that a company such as Loews Corporation has out of the blue, abruptly turned their back on humanity.  The decision of a corporate giant, to go from doing something so right to doing something so wrong will certainly come back to bite you in the end. Apparently  you did not take into consideration how this decision will not only damage your company, but can also be detrimental to all feral cat organizations such as mine and yes I am angry. Angry and heartbroken over the torturing and killing of innocent animals, but also because I have worked for eight years trying to make a difference and in a blink of an eye you’ve set back the progress we’ve made trying to end this barbaric method of trap and kill.

Over looking the hundreds of articles and postings displaying public outrage over this matter, I searched the internet to learn more about this corporation and the people behind it. I failed to find much of a charitable side. I did however notice a coincidence in the timing of these events and a newly hired CEO.

 Since I have learned all about Loews, I think it’s only fair you learn a little something about me. I have put my heart and soul into my organization, my blood sweat and tears. My blood from crawling under houses or squeezing through wire netting to rescue kittens. My sweat from staking out cats and kittens for days sometimes weeks, to rescue, catch without traps, socialize, spay/neuter, or bottle feed around the clock and hopefully find homes for. My tears when I loose a nine day old kitten that was dumped off in a box somewhere or when I am faced with putting down a feral cat that is ill.  Not to mention the hours and hours spent talking or writing to educate people on TNR and disputing the misguided myths of feral cats. And lastly, my money, that I work hard for which is used to fund my organization.  Then along comes a billion dollar corporation making a “policy change” and no viable reason for it.

You’ve got everyone in an uproar, and it makes you look bad. This may be alright with you but your actions also make our organizations look bad. You demean our mission and take time away from what we normally do, by making us come out to fight this injustice.   

 Why?  Why would you make such a change? And please don’t hand me that baloney statement about injury and disease. I know better.

 You were doing the right thing; even though it was the employees doing it made it seem as if  your corporation was standing up for these innocent animals. Animals, by the way, that are the result of a “people problem.”  You set an example, a big corporation with intelligence and a heart proving that TNR works and how it is the only effective humane solution for feral cats and the communities in which they live.

  Now I don’t know for a fact who the person is in this corporation that made such a bad decision, but I do know he or she certainly didn’t think it through. There are other alternatives besides sentencing all these cats to torture and death. This turn of events on your part that may also very well cause a ripple effect of this cruelty.

 If you don’t want the cats by your hotels then consider giving them a place of their own.  All it takes is a piece of land to start a sanctuary.  You may even have a few acres lying around. The benefits to your company’s image will certainly out weigh the cost. It will make you look good, people will respect and appreciate your efforts remembering Loews Corporation in a positive way and of course you can write it off at tax time. I would be happy to offer you the plans and ideas for a sanctuary I myself hope to build someday.

Diane Merlo

President

WeCATS Corp

adminn@wecats.com

  E-mail reply from input@loewshotels.com  ON 4/30/12

 I imagine the same reply everyone gets

• The concept of managing free-roaming/feral domestic cats (Felis catus) is not tenable on public health grounds because of the persistent threat posed to communities from injury and disease. While the risk for disease transmission from cats to people is generally low when these animals are maintained indoors and routinely cared for, free-roaming cats pose a continuous concern to communities. Children are among the highest risk for disease transmission from these cats.
• While free-roaming cats can be vaccinated against rabies, this does not address the ongoing need to provide them health care, medications and prevention of other zoonotic diseases. Should one of these cats bite or scratch a person, it would need to be captured and observed for 10 days for signs and symptoms of rabies, even if it had been previously vaccinated. If the cat is not found, the person bitten would need to undergo rabies post-exposure treatment (average cost >$1,000 for previously unvaccinated individual).
• In the past 10 years, cats were reported with rabies more frequently than dogs in Florida. The overwhelming majority of these cats were free-roaming animals. Human rabies in Florida was largely controlled by the removal of stray dogs when dog rabies was common during the first half of the 1900s.
• Ideally, cats should have regular veterinary care and be maintained inside people's homes. Allowing cats to roam free is not in the best interests of the community’s health and deliberate release or abandonment of feral or domestic cats is not sanctioned under Florida’s conservation and cruelty laws. Domestic cats are not “indigenous” or native to Florida, and relocating and releasing non-native species into the wild is a violation of F.S. 372.265 and FAC 68A-4.005. Due to their adverse impact on wildlife, the FWC does not issue permits to make lawful either the release of cats to the wild or the establishment of feral/free-roaming cat colonies.

OUR REPLY ON 5/2/12

LOEWS CORPORATE