If you were in the habit of leaving your child alone for days at a time with
someone paid to visit them, child protective service would step in.

With all the cats in the world that no one wants.....

I find the story fascinating, because I have to wonder if Carl is a
descendent of the orange trailer park Tom we knew in Alaska thirty five
years ago.  Palmer isn't all that far from where we lived.

There aren't as many feral cats in Alaska per capita as there might be
elsewhere, just because it is so inhospitable for them.  Between weather,
predators, and food sources they have it pretty rough.  If I'm not mistaken,
it is now illegal to let your cat outdoors in an unenclosed area.

Our last year in Alaska, we lived in an 8ft by 38ft trailer with a lean-to.
The park of about 50 trailers was home to a very large very wild orange tom
cat, called of course Tom by everyone.  He lived by eating from the trash
(and food that was left out for him) and when it was cold he would go from
car to car as they came in at night.  Sleeping under the warmest one.  He
fought any and all other cats, and wouldn't let anyone touch him.  He was
the only unowned cat in the park.  The residents did let their cats our in
nice weather.  And there were the usual number of kittens born every spring.
Most of them orange.

Jo

Carl the cat custody case goes to trial
PALMER: Woman seeks $100,000 over alleged office catnapping.

By ANDREW WELLNER
awellner@adn.com

Published: September 21, 2007
Last Modified: September 21, 2007 at 03:04 AM

PALMER -- Jason Fieser's neck and ears flushed red as he sat on the
witness stand Thursday in Judge Eric Smith's Superior Court.

In a note to the judge that Smith read aloud, a juror asked Fieser, an
Alaska state trooper, why he turned red.

"This is upsetting to me," Fieser answered.

His wife's former boss at a Palmer accounting firm had pressured
Fieser's superiors to fire him over, of all things, a cat, he
testified.

Fieser, now posted in Dillingham, said a note from a superior had
warned him of "internal consequences" and possible criminal charges
should his wife, Staci, fail to hand over the cat, a 7-year-old orange
tabby named Carl.

"I cannot make the decision whether to return the cat," Fieser said he
replied. That was for his wife to decide.

"I told them not to threaten me. If they were going to charge me then
charge me," he said.

Thursday, trial began in civil court to decide who owns Carl, who
survived a February 2006 fire that destroyed Fosselman & Associates,
an accounting firm on South Bailey Street. Catherine Fosselman, the
firm's owner, according to her employees disregarded her car keys and
company files to carry Carl to safety that night. She is suing the
woman, Staci Fieser, with whom she placed Carl for safekeeping but who
has kept Carl since.

Fosselman said she never meant for Fieser to have Carl permanently.
She wants him back. And she wants $100,000 in punitive damages for
loss of his companionship, she testified Thursday.

"Loss of cat consortium," said the Fiesers' attorney, Eric Conard, as
he questioned Fosselman.

"I am not here to get rich. I am here to get my cat back," she said.

The punitive damages, her attorney, Andrew Robinson, told the jury,
are meant to "send a message to anybody out there who wants to pull
this kind of stuff that there are consequences to this type of
action."

Fosselman filed suit in October 2006. Neither side in the dispute will
acknowledge any attempt to settle the case short of trial.

However, Conard, on the eve of trial, said, "If there were
discussions, they obviously didn't work."

Fosselman in a previous interview has denied trying to have Jason
Fieser fired.

Prospective jurors were asked Wednesday whether they had any pets and
whether a trial over a cat is a waste of court time and resources.

"If somebody had my dog, I'd probably sue them to get my dog back,"
said one woman.

"I'd rather see them come to court than go to the extremes of
violence," said another.

One man said he could decide who gets the cat, but couldn't envision
awarding monetary damages.

All three were eventually picked to serve on the 12-member jury, with
two alternates, hearing the case.

For six years, Carl lived in the accounting office, brought there as a
stray kitten picked up by Traci Weiland, a former Fosselman business
partner. Another cat, Chloe, arrived in the office later. She did not
survive the fire.

Conard asserts that Weiland signed an affidavit in October 2006 giving
Carl to Staci Fieser. Fosselman claims Carl was not Weiland's to give.

Employees, former employees and clients took their turns testifying
Thursday to Carl's charm.

Carl lay atop documents, begging for attention and impeding work in
the office. His keepers showered him with toys, blankets and treats
that were kept at nearly every desk. Fosselman said Carl came to
prefer bottled water only and learned to drink from the water cooler.

"He seemed like a very popular cat," said her husband, Dale Fosselman.

At Christmas time Carl and Chloe had stockings hung next to those for
the employees.

Carl's "had more in it than mine," testified employee Amy Levinson.

Robinson expects to conclude his case today.
-----------------------
See Carl's picture at:
http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/matsu/story/9319377p-9233913c.html