The Allegan County Sheriff’s Department has announced there will be no charges filed in connection with a complaint involving a trapped dead feral cat Jan. 25 at Sandy Pines west of Dorr.
Allegan Central Dispatch received a call about a deceased cat found in a “live” trap on the grounds of the Sandy Pines Resort and Campground. The Allegan County Animal Control officer was summoned and recovered the trap and animal to begin an investigation.
The officer inspected all of the other traps in the park that he could find and found no other animals in any traps. He then notified the Sandy Pines Resort Public Safety director about the situation.
The investigation was conducted by the sheriff’s office and numerous witnesses were interviewed to try to determine what had taken place. Once the investigation was completed, the report and evidence was sent to the prosecutor’s office for review.
Though every effort was made to identify a particular responsible person, the investigation, no one was found responsible for not tending to or checking the trap in an appropriate time frame. Therefore, no charges will be authorized in this case.
“The sheriff’s office identified several issues with how Sandy Pines handles the trapping of animals and specifically how they trap cats in the park, a department spokesperson said. Suggestions were given to them to help improve this procedure and hopefully keep this from happening again.”
