How We Started PosterBurner (Part 7)
I was out in the bushes leaving food for the cats when I heard the roar of an engine.
And then hard breaks and squeaking tires.
The roaring engine belonged to a blue Porsche convertible.
It stopped right in front of me.
The guy driving the Porsche had long, slicked back hair and wore fancy sunglasses. And even though he had just stopped right in front of me, he didn't look over. He just stared straight ahead.
I stood there holding a bag of cat food in my hand, confused.
Then he slowly took off his sunglasses and turned to me.
And he said he was going to sue me for leaving the cats food.
Immediately my mind started racing. Was this real? And could someone really be sued for feeding a cat?
I didn't know the answer, so I just stood there, silent.
The guy just kept staring at me and the seconds kept ticking by - but each awkward tick felt like a minute.
Then he just drove off.
Later I would learn that he had a business down the road that upgraded high end boats. And he was worried about the cats walking on his boats at night.
That was an understandable concern.
But the solution wasn't to starve these cats who had already been dumped in an industrial area by people that didn't want them.
And threats of cat lawsuits weren't going to stop us.
So the next day I did some searching. I found that there are groups out there that help with this exact situation - cat people groups.
And not only do these groups exist, they are serious about their business.
After a few phone calls and a meeting, we convinced a group called Cat Rescue Inc to help us out.
They suggested something called TNR - trap, neuter, and release.
This would at least ensure that the cat population wouldn't grow, and I thought maybe that would satisfy the Porsche driving boat guy.
But I was naïve.
In the next post, I'll explain how the cat trapping worked and how the battle of the cats came to a head.
And if you missed the earlier parts of the story of how PosterBurner was started, here are the links:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6