Personally, If it's not my cat and has no registrations tags, I'd be ringing
the pound. That way, if the owner comes looking for the cat you can tell
them exactly where the cat is. You've done nothing illegal
Sounds like the father has a few aggression issues. I'm guessing there will
be no troopers at your door. Folks like that tend to be all talk.
Good luck. :)

This is *not* the same story you told before.  In your original description,
you said the college student called in response to your "missing cat"
posters, insisted on bringing the cat to you instead of you coming to her
home/apartment, and the *large* cat *escaped* from her arms because she got
out of her car with the unrestrained cat in her arms while the motor was
still running.  At that time, you still thought the cat was yours later but
it later turned out not to be the same cat.  From your own description, she
did not "release" the cat at your apartment complex, and she did not have
any experience with cats.  You also called her "stupid," among other things.

At that point, several of us expressed concern for the other cat, which was
now itself a "missing" cat.  I suggested that you post fliers in the
neighborhood where the cat was originally caught so the owners would know
where to look and mentioned (in two messages, I believe) that this meant
there was now another lost cat in an unfamiliar area with owners who would
not know where to look.  I further suggested that you call the girl and ask
her to do it if you did not know where she lived (and it seemed reasonable
to me that she might not have wanted to tell a stranger where she lived).

Did you post these notices and/or ask the girl to do the same thing?  Did
you take out any newspaper ads or contact animal welfare services for help?
It doesn't sound like it.  In my opinion, *both* you and the girl share
moral responsibility.  You are older, you are the one with some familiarity
with cats, and you are the one who incorrectly identified the cat as your
own (from a verbal description and even after seeing it escape from the
girl).  Therefore, I would place primary blame on you.  Why don't you take
action and try to identify the owners instead of expecting the girl to pick
up a cat when she obviously doesn't know the first thing about handling one?

MaryL

How can this post be from the future?