Cat’s Got His Tongue: Auction Over Before It Starts Stevens County Had Already Declared ‘Foster Home’ Residents Winners

Spectators outnumbered the two prospective bidders at Stevens County’s inaugural cat auction Wednesday.

But the handful who gathered at the courthouse steps were denied the spectacle of Sheriff Craig Thayer hoisting cats in the air by the scruff of the neck to entice bidders.

He didn’t even bring the cats.

“I thought they were going to have some cats there,” said County Commissioner Fred Lotze. “That’s the reason I went.”

But Thayer auctioned the cats with just a written description, as though they were land being sold for unpaid taxes. The auction was over before it got started, anyway, thanks to a resolution commissioners passed Tuesday.

The resolution grants a form of auction scrip to people who give “foster homes” to abandoned cats. The $2-a-day credit - equal to the cost of kenneling them at a veterinary clinic - counts as a bid in the auction even if the scrip holders don’t show up.

The 28 cats Thayer was to have auctioned Wednesday all had been placed in area homes and those receiving auction scrip for providing care for the animals were deemed the winning bidders.

Dolly Kratcha and Janet Boyles said they were pleased to find themselves outbid when they arrived at the auction Wednesday. The two rural residents said they came to buy any unwanted cats so the sheriff wouldn’t euthanize them.

The auction system seems a good idea in lieu of a county shelter that could keep abandoned animals for an extended period, Boyles said.

Commissioners adopted the procedure in response to animal advocate Joyce Tasker’s latest tactic to pressure the county to establish an animal-control program. Under court order to quit housing dogs at her home, which she calls Dogpatch, Tasker switched to cats earlier this month.

Under an old state law, Tasker certifies the cats to be abandoned and brings them to the sheriff to be auctioned.

“I’m real pleased that homes were found for the number of cats that came in, that apparently Dogpatch Corp. couldn’t find homes for,” Thayer said, pricking Tasker with her own needle.

Tasker was fuming Wednesday about the way Thayer disposed of the cats without even presenting them at the auction. She also objected to his plan to hold an auction at 10 a.m. on any day he has cats - without posting new 10-day public notices.

Commissioners felt Thayer, an ex-attorney, “should know what he’s doing,” Lotze said. “I hope he does anyway.”

Lotze said he doesn’t think the county can afford an animal shelter.

“I don’t really think it’s that big of a problem,” he added. “I think it’s Joyce trying to cause problems.”

Tasker said she missed Wednesday’s auction because she had to euthanize a wounded dog, which she claimed had been shot by someone acting under the advice of the Sheriff’s Department.

Thayer said the law allows people to shoot dogs if they threaten people, livestock or wildlife, but his department doesn’t recommend shooting strays. In fact, the sheriff said he urges people to let his deputies deal with problem dogs.

, DataTimes