Alyshah Hasham
Staff Reporter
This is the cat who can’t die.
Andrea, a black cat with white paws, went through two euthanasia attempts and 45 minutes in a freezer before animal shelter workers realized she was still alive.
Now, the recovering feline has found a temporary home with Janita Coombs, the executive director of the Community Animal Welfare Society in Utah.
“How could you not take her?” said Coombs.
Andrea, likely an abandoned pet, was kept at the West Valley City animal shelter for 30 days until she was scheduled to be put down on Thursday.
Shelter workers are given a choice between using the needle and the carbon monoxide chamber, said Coombs. Luckily for Andrea, they chose the gas chamber.
After one cycle in the chamber the other cats were dead, but Andrea still had vital signs. She was put back a second time, and her apparently dead body was stored in the freezer. Forty-five minutes later, as shelter workers were putting the body of a dog into the freezer they heard a miaow.
Then another louder miaow.
“She had the most horrific, terrified expression on her face, and she had defecated all over her self,” said Coombs. But the cat immediately started purring and rubbing against her rescuers.
“There was no way we could put her down after that,” said the shelter workers to Coombs when they called her to see if her organization could look after Andrea.
“She was hypothermic and having difficulty walking, and I thought she would have had some neurological damage,” said Coombs.
Now Andrea is hardly limping and is very playful.
“She is happy to be alive,” said Coombs.
A spokesperson for the city animal shelter has said the incident is an anomaly. The chamber was working properly and correct procedures were followed, Aaron Crim, told the Salt Lake Tribune.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1071760--shelter-tries-to-gas-cat-twice-but-it-won-t-die?bn=1