Hamden Animal Control Seeks Information In Apparent Cat Abandonment

HAMDEN, CT — Local animal control officials are seeking information about a man they say dropped off a cat at an apartment complex and left.

Hamden Animal Control, a division of the Hamden Police Department, posted on Facebook on Dec. 16 about the incident.

A man walked into an apartment complex at 415 Mather St., dropped off a cat carrier with a cat inside, and then left it behind, officials said. The man appears to have been driving an older style red pickup truck.

In a follow-up Facebook post on Dec.17, officials indicated they don’t know who the man is or why he dropped the cat off.

“That is what we want to speak to this man about,” officials said, in the post. “There could be many reasons he did this. It could have been an ex’s cat, could have been financial, could have been a neighbor’s cat that he just didn’t want in his yard, could have bitten someone, maybe he found it, maybe he just didn’t want it. We just don’t know.”

Animal control has to advertise and then hold the cat for a week afterward. If the cat belongs to the man, he can sign it over to animal control, which can then find a new home for it.

“At the end of the day, it is illegal to abandon an animal under the cruelty statute in Connecticut,” officials wrote, in the Facebook post.

Animal control posted a photo of the cat in addition to a video in an attempt to get information so they can reach the owner.

Officials asked anyone who knows the man to contact them at 203-230-4080. All information will be kept confidential.