Hadi told CTV News Toronto that she let Neo out a little over a week ago. He noticed when the cat did not return, but because Neo is an outside cat, he did not think much about it. “Two days is normal, one day is definitely normal,” he said. But after a few days, Hadi started to worry, posting posters in her neighborhood. By the weekend, a friend told her to try animal services. Haddy called and Nio had brought in, but it was too late. “They said they brought him as a stray, sick cat and decided after three days [to] “Put him to sleep,” he said. However, the Toronto Animal Services (TAS) said they waited a total of five days – two days longer than required by law. “By law, we keep stray cats for three days,” Tracy Pasquariello, TAS supervisor, told CTV News Toronto. “The cat came on April 3 and we had to make the unfortunate decision on April 8.” According to TAS, Neo was introduced by someone in the community who fed him outdoors for years. They said the cat looked very unwell and tried to find an owner. While the cat had an identification chip, TAS said it was not properly registered and as a result, they could not find the owner. “Our goal is always to reunite the pet with the owner, so we definitely gave the owner a chance to show up,” Pasquariello said. Hadi said she was unaware of the animal service process and that someone should be given more time to navigate the system. “It’s an outdoor cat – three days, it’s not fair,” he said. “Two more days, I would have found him.” While TAS calls this an unfortunate situation, it asks people to register their pet brands and file reports as soon as possible after the loss of a pet.
