The Kaukauna Police Department is trying to make changes following an incident in which an officer failed to drop off a cat at the shelter.
Last week, a resident reported that a missing cat had been found in his driveway and called an officer to pick it up.
The orange and white cat was taken in a cage from the scene, and the homeowner was told it would be taken to the police station until the humane society opened later in the week.
The homeowner then made a Facebook post saying that the cat named Walter had been found.
However, Walter’s owner says that when they went to the police station to retrieve the cat, he wasn’t there.
Instead, the police officer dropped the cat off in a field a mile from where Walter was initially found.
Walter was later found in the field and brought home, but not before the homeowner was asked to get the body camera from the police officer, saying they were livid with what happened.
The Kaukauna Police Department said in a statement that they want to “apologize to the owners of the cat and the Kaukauna community, for the way this incident was handled.”
They continued explaining, “As a result of this incident, we made changes to our guidelines on how we handle animals at large. Moving forward, all domesticated animals the Kaukauna Police Department takes into custody will be transported to the Fox Valley Humane Society. These new guidelines will take effect immediately, and every officer at the Kaukauna Police Department has been advised of this process.”
