By Carol Tannenhauser
Carol Moon, director of The Animal Project, a nonprofit cat rescue and adoption organization, sounded distraught. “Clyde is very shy,” she said, on the phone with West Side Rag on Saturday night. “If they opened the carrier he’s probably hiding under the bed. I just hope they’re feeding him.”
Clyde was stolen from the Petco on West 92nd Street and Broadway last Saturday, October 8th, at around 6:45pm. Moon explained that every weekend, Petco allows The Animal Project to hold an adoption event at the store. Foster parents bring their feline charges to find “forever homes.” Clyde was one of a litter of four 6 to 7-month-old kittens. When the event ended, unadopted, he was in his carrier, waiting to be taken back to his foster home.
“A group of four kids had been hanging around: Black, middle-school age,” Moon recalled. “One of them said, ‘I want a cat.’ I told him to come back next weekend and we could talk about it. Then I turned to another man and when I turned back, Clyde was gone.”
Moon said it was all captured on a security tape, but “the police said it can’t be used because they’re minors.”
An NYPD spokesperson confirmed the account, adding that “no arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing.”
Anyone with information regarding the theft of Clyde is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org/ or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls are strictly confidential.
When the police said the security tape can’t be used, does that mean it can’t be used to find the boys, or it just can’t be shown to the public?
That is my question as well. That should not preclude an investigation.
Ms, Moon has been a fixture at our neighborhood Petco for many years and does wonderful work for our feline friends. As a cat owner, my heart aches for this little soul.. Thank you for reporting this incident.
So is this really a PD issue? Sounds like an impulsive, stupid middle schooler saw and wanted an adorable cat and did a bad thing and took it. Why not make the offer to the store to reach out to area families and kids – they have the video, so it can’t be that hard to find out who this is.p with some stills and assurance no one will get into police trouble. The poster should say: do you have Clyde?? Follow up with an offer, combined with accountability: if you want to take care of Clyde, own up, apologize, do a few hours of work with the organization to show you can be responsible and show you can learn a thing or two about pet care, and maybe they might have some money that could go toward shots, supplies, etc.
What the group does with this notice – Offering a $500 reward to turn in a kid (and giving description like a wanted poster) or retrieve a cat for ransom, doesn’t help cat or kid. Sounds like an incentive to steal cats, actually, the, “find” them and get money.
I love cats and other pets. I hate to think of a frightened animal. But the important person here is the kid who did a dumb thing – and now has a cat – is there a road to a positive consequences, whether Clyde stays with the cat-napper or returns to foster care?
What a load of progressive nonsense. The kids committed a crime. Theres a video of the crime. The police should look at the video, find the criminals (Hopefully find the cat) and arrest them. Simple. Criminals need to pay for their crimes not getting paid $500 for it.
You are correct. Here we go again coddling the criminals.
please read what you wrote. “Clyde stays with the cat-napper.” does this sound reasonable? Boy some people really have their heads in the clouds.
I guarantee you that the kid dumped the kitten in the street or in a park when they got home and their mom said they couldn’t keep it.
It’s a huge jump to think that a person who steals a cat from their foster family is the same person who “owns up” and does the right thing. It’s never a mistake, no matter what age, when you do something to hurt or endanger an animal. Clyde is no doubt scared. I have the feeling that he is not being housed in a safe and loving home – or he would have been returned by now.
In what world does it make any sense to allow the kid criminal to keep the cat? Yeah, sure, let’s reward egregious behavior. No thanks. Find these horrible brats, return Clyde to Petco, and let Clyde be adopted by an actual human being who gives a damn about his well-being and life.
“But the important person here is the kid who did a dumb thing”
The important ‘person’ is the cat who was taken and is god knows where, possibly dumped, possibly harmed.
The kid needs to go spend some time thinking things through in a juvenile facility. He needs negative consequences, not positive.
How about both — Community service at an animal shelter would be both negative and positive consequences.
What you said sounds good in a perfect world. But what if the cat is in danger or worse? The kids could have opened the carrier before they got home and the kitten escaped, or they may not be feeding or even hurting him. (One of my adopted dogs was tortured by his previous owner’s son who thought it was funny to force the dog’s head in the toilet until he couldn’t breath, among other things.) In and event, there is a process to adopting animals and no middle schooler would qualify without living in a home with a responsible adult, so your idea about rehabilitatimg the kid and allowing him to keep the kitten is not that simple. Obviously a kitten is not a child but what if they did took a baby? Would that be a police matter or just a childish prank?
The kid did not do a “dumb” thing.
The kid stole the cat. It’s a crime.
Of course he is a dumb kid, but he is (assuming he stole y]the cat) a criminal, and this may not be the first or last of his doing crime.
Really, “Moon said it was all captured on a security tape, but “the police said it can’t be used because they’re minors.””
What is their ages has to do with anything.
If they stole the cat, at least one of them may have done it, arrest them, find the cat, bring it back to Petco, and prosecute the kid/kids for stealing a live creature.
I hope the cat is well and who harm has come to it.
I don’t understand the concept of not utilizing the camera to identify the robbers. It literally makes no sense.
Zero sense. Just sounds like cops who don’t want to be bothered looking for a stolen kitten, regardless of footage of the crime in progress. Shame on those cops, that precinct.
Police CAN use the tapes to identify the robbers. They cannot make it public, because the names and likenesses of minors cannot be released.
I’ll say a prayer for sweet baby Clyde—hope he’s not dead—cats come in for more than their share of abuse and torture and boys this age could want a cat for something beside normal pet ownership—even knowing the basics of cat care may be beyond them and Clyde’s getting offered funky things to eat—just something with onion on it can be bad—Hang in there Clyde!
Sadly lifting kittens from Petco happens all the time.
https://pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/kitten-stolen-from-cat-adoption-group-at-petco-in-union-square/
why did she turn away from the kid who said he wanted a cat? Why didn’t she talk to him about the adoption process? why did she tell him to come back next week when she had time to “turn to another man?”
The adoption event runs from 2-6pm every Saturday. For whatever reason, they were still there at 6:45; cats back in their carriers and waiting for foster families to pick up. Ms. Moon DID tell them to come back next week during adoption hours, which she was right to do. The sickening teenagers’ behaviors are the ONLY behaviors we need to look at and ask “Why didn’t they…?’
Have u ever adopted? Kid this age needed to come with an ADULT if serious and btw have multiple references and payment as well—I’ll take the judgement of a serious rescuer over the impulses of a middle schooler
probably because they would have to come back with an adult? No one’s adopting out pets to unsupervised children.
Really? You are blaming the rescue? It was end of the day and the kids had already been hanging around. So, why didn’t they ask earlier, and even though it is of no consequence, you have no idea why she turned to another man. According to your logic, the next time I try to ask a salesperson a question and don’t get the answer I like, or want to buy something at the end of day and I am not allowed, it would be okay to steal the item? Stealing an animal is crime in NY, so just stop with the inane comments already. (And, yes I would say that regardless of the race or ethic origin of the kid.)
https://www.akc.org/legislative-alerts/ny-senate-approves-criminalizing-pet-theft/
Why aren’t the cats and dogs equipped with Apple AirTags on their collars?? This should be a standard practice immediately… especially with the continued level of crime in the city.
It only takes a few seconds to remove a collar, so I don’t think that would be a reliable way to track a pet. Is it physically possible to implement a tracking device long with a microchip? My pets are chipped but I’ve never actually seen what they look like or how big they are. I’m sure we must have the technology for that.
Any updates?
Unfortunately clyde has not been recovered. I’ve been in touch with the rescue and they are not giving up hope
Terribly disturbing, I worry more and more for the kitty with each passing day. Why is there no notice on Animal Project NYC’s website and their Instagram? I’m hoping that other news outlets will join WSR in covering the story and getting the word out about the no-questions-asked reward, hopefully increasing chances of Clyde’s safe return.