At the moment I am kind of glad I don't know who the OP is irl...because not only would I be reporting the brother to the police and animal authorities, but ALSO the OP for KNOWING that this is going on and DOING NOTHING!
Absolutely shameful...you'd rather the brother turn them loose so they might be run over or hurt further, than to have them turned over to animal control where they might stand a chance.
Just imagine how your mother is likely to react when your brother finally tells her that YOU KNEW what he was doing and did nothing. Don't think that this little secret of yours will stay a secret....
Good grief, the OP came here for advice and some of you are raking her over the coals.
First of all, she has made it clear that she is not an animal person and thus very inexperienced in the matter. She doesn't know what to do and came to you for advice. Please consider educating her kindly instead of bashing her. It isn't necessary and it does nothing to help the situation. Remember, the OP is the good guy here; she is trying to HELP. She is scared of cats. She isn't crazy about them, but still feels bad for them and is desperate for a solution. This makes her a
good person!!!! We're all on the same side people! So let's stop with the insults. It's NOT helping the cats you claim to be so worried about!
Second of all, not being an animal person, for all she knows it is perfectly safe to let a cat free. Most people who are inexperienced when it comes to animal care have no idea that it is unsafe to let a cat loose in the wild. They assume that because cats evolved in the wild that domesticated cats can be set free and be ok. If you aren't used to being around animals, how do you know otherwise unless somebody (hopefully a nice person) educates you? Frankly, given her fear and dislike of cats, I find that her attempt to help reflects positively on her character.
Finally, in case some of you haven't noticed, she is changing her game plan thanks to the advice she has received on this thread. She has agreed to call her mother. Perhaps now that she has received good advice she will know that she can probably find foster care for her mother's cats. Not being a cat person, she probably had no idea of this until now. Now she does. She seems to have learned what she needed to learn just fine. She's a normal, intelligent person who understands English; she didn't need insulted and bashed to get the point across.
And please, to those of you who can't grasp her fear of cats, imagine how you'd feel if I asked you to keep my snakes for six months. I'm guessing that many people would rather see them set out into the wild than to keep them in their homes. Fear IS a valid "excuse" for not keeping them, not that she even needs one. As a cat lover, I cannot understand this fear. But an entomologist probably wouldn't understand my fear of ants. Everybody has their quirks and fears, it doesn't make them bad people for crying out loud!
If you guys really care and really want to help these cats, then PLEASE be kind and helpful to the ONLY PERSON who is looking out for their best interest.
