Utah boy's letter: "Grown-ups killed my kitty"

SALT LAKE CITY An 8-year-old Utah boy wrote a letter to his local newspaper after an animal shelter worker failed to write a note to save his cat from being euthanized. "Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren't supposed to," he said.

The letter appeared in The Herald Journal, of Logan, on Thursday. By Friday, it had received the fourth-most comments on the newspaper's website — behind three letters about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Some berated the shelter for failing to keep the cat safe. Others criticized the family for letting the cat outside, failing to have it on a leash or not looking for the cat at the shelter sooner. Still others faulted the neighbors who had trapped the cat and denied having seen it when asked.

But the boy, Rayden Sazama, just wanted to share his love of his cat, Toothless.

"I just wanted to tell people about Toothless — that I loved him," he told The Associated Press through his father, Jason Sazama, on Friday. "And that people shouldn't lie."

Sazama said he's surprised how many people didn't get the point of Rayden's letter, which the boy dictated to his grandfather: "It was about a boy sharing his love for his cat — and saying, `C'mon grown-ups."'

Toothless, a fluffy, black cat who roamed the cow pasture next door and often brought home "presents" of field mice, slipped out his kitty door Sept. 28 and didn't return home. By Sunday, Rayden and his younger brother, Devin, were going door to door, asking neighbors if they had seen the cat.

Everyone said they hadn't seen Toothless.

Jason Sazama checked the Cache Humane Society's website but didn't see any photos resembling Toothless. After two busy days on the road for work, he decided to swing by the organization's shelter Tuesday to see if Toothless had turned up.

The shelter had already closed for the evening, but a worker allowed Sazama inside, where Toothless sat in a cage. There was just one problem: Sazama still needed to pay the impound fee at a government building that was also closed.

The worker assured Sazama the cat would be fine, and he returned home, crowing: "I found Toothless! We'll get him tomorrow."

But when Sazama returned the next day, the receipt for his impound payment in hand, he discovered that Toothless had already been euthanized. The worker had forgotten to put a note on the cage.

The Cache Humane Society did not return a telephone message Friday from the AP. When reached by The Herald Journal, Director Brenda Smith confirmed Rayden's story, saying the boy's father had visited the shelter after business hours, when the worker was busy training another employee.

"She let him in to look for the cat, but unfortunately, in training someone she forgot to leave a note on the cat's cage," Smith told the newspaper. "I've just been sick about it, and so has she."

Sazama said he has no ill will toward the shelter.

"I had to explain to my son that several adults made mistakes here," he said. "The worker made a mistake, and I should have gone to the shelter sooner."

Sazama said he even understood why the neighbors trapped the cat; he hadn't known that Toothless had been visiting the neighbors' sandbox and leaving different kinds of presents there.

But Rayden said in his letter that the neighbors lied when he asked them if they had seen the cat. "My dad and mom tell me and Devin not to lie and that is right," he said.

"Now I don't know what to do," the letter concludes. "My cat Toothless is dead; the people that killed him didn't even give him to my dad so we could bury him. What do I do now?"

[phwtb100]

It's no one's fault that the cat was captured. BUT... It IS the neighbors fault for turning in over to the shelter. Why didn't they just take it back to the owner and tell the owner to keep their cat INDOORS.

Not long after I moved in to my home, I found a cat with a litter of brand new kittens in my storage room. Though I don't like cats, I went down to the local pet store and got all the stuff I would need to take care of them. They grew strong and I guess happy, as every time I came out side they followed me around and wanted my attention. There were 6 kittens and the momma cat and all of them just as sweet as they could be.

SIX WEEKS LATER, when it came time to find them a home, I asked my next door neighbors if they wanted a kitten. His response to me was, "They're ours. The momma's name is Belle."

Talk about going through the roof!!! I couldn't believe these a33holes had just dumped their responsibility on me and NEVER said a word about those kittens belonging to them!!!! Needless to say I demanded that they come get them immediately.

People like that do not deserve to have pets.
Most do not deserve to have children.

As it turned out, for the next 18 months, they were indeed the renters from he11 and I now understand why homeowners HATE to live beside any of them.

[Sportstersue9]

Reading this story from CT and it sickens me, cats do what cats do they go outside its not like it was in the city. Sandboxes have always been candidates for "cat boxes" cover your sandbox! Let your neighbor know if there is a problem FIRST! They apparently knew who's cat toothless was. The neighbor and shelter are to blame here not the parents, and it is just so sad that they cannot even give a proper burial to their beloved pet....bad karma just bad. My heart goes out to you Rayden and Devin and your parents. Cats are independent they sometimes do go out for a few days, that's what some do, mine did. He showed up in my yard out of the blue as a kitten someone dumped off and 10 years later he decided to walk out the same way....and I was happy to have him for as long as I did.

[Sal_the_cat]

This is very sad of events not only for the kids but the cat itself. Father should have gone to the shelter first thing in the morning to pick it up.

And that unreliable worker in the shelter- isn't it ironical that she was training someone? Who needs training here?

What's up with the shelter killing a pet barely a day or two after taking custody? Fire the director!

[BigMykul]

Lot of people talk about leashing or haltering a cat. Have any of them tried to do it? Unless they are raised from kittens with these restraints applied, they will fight tooth and nail. Had a friend who moved into a house on a very busy street. They tried for months to break his wife's cat to leash with no success.

[gmcken]

I taught my cat as a kitten to only go outside on a leash. She wouldn't walk with me or "heal" but she knew if she wanted to relax on the porch she had to be on a leash. it worked well for 16 years

[angelosdaughter]

Poor little guy. I hope someday he can have and love another kitty like he did Toothless.

[IKNOWNACOLA2]

I know what it is lke to have LIARS for neighbors.

[rwsmith29456]

The grown ups involved made mistakes and people do make mistakes. The neighbors, however, acted intentionally. There are a lot better ways to learn about laws concerning animals without having somebody kill your kitty.

[Jaylah54200]

Almost all cities have "leash laws" that apply to cats as well as dogs. I don't expect an 8-year old to know that, but his parents sure should have. So why was there a "kitty door" leading to the outside in the first place?

In that, I agree with Rayden, "C'mon grown-ups." (Parents)

And it takes time for shelters to get photos of all of the animals and put them up on their website. Some don't even put photos up until the animal has been there long enough to be released for adoption. So why would you just "look at the pictures" on the shelter website? Why wouldn't you actually CALL the shelter and put in a lost pet report?

In that, also, I agree with Rayden, "C'mon grown-ups." (Parents)

So yes, the shelter worker SHOULD have put the note on Toothless's cage. And I don't blame Rayden for being upset over the needless loss of his cat. However, had his own parents not made the TWO mistakes they made, this would never have been an issue.

As a pet owner myself, and shelter volunteer, I really feel for Rayden. A lot of "grown-ups" really let him down.

I would hope that the shelter would be willing to give Rayden his choice of another cat from the shelter and waive the normal adoption fee. As long as his parents were willing to nail the cat-flap shut, keep the cat inside unless it was either on a halter and leash (and yes, cats can be trained for that...mine is) or in an appropriate "pet taxi", and put a collar on the cat with appropriate ID (if not actually have a micro-chip implanted).


Rayden knows the law now, and hopefully he knows better what to do if another pet goes missing. So maybe next time the "grown-ups" won't let him down so badly.

[mryoubrian]

47 years old and sitting at home. Tired from a days work in the construction field. Read....boy......story..Toothless...must get Kleenex......have something in.........my eye.

[craniest]

what the shelter did was a mistake.

What the neighbors did was reprehensible, heartless and cruel, and they deserve whatever bad karma the universe decides to poop in their front yard from now on.

[abby3514]

Newster90210 is right, sadly. What the poor kid's parents did is irresponsible and reprehensible: They taught their kid that it is acceptable to disrespect his neighbors, drafting them for unwanted cat box duty. The poor kid and his wonderful kitty now have to suffer for the parents' arrogant stupidity. The neighbors mercifully sent the cat to the pound, rather than hurt an innocent animal, probably in hopes that the impound fee would give the parents a wake up call. And it's sadly obvious that they would do this again to their son and another precious kitty if given the chance.