Shelter Cat Sentenced To Solitary Confinement For Jail-breaking Other Cats. PHOTO: Friends4Life
A shelter cat named Quilty has become an internet sensation largely due to his rebellious habit of letting himself and other cats out from their confines at the Friends for Life Animal Shelter in Houston, Texas.
“Quilty will not be contained. And he has no shame.” The animal shelter wrote in a now-viral Facebook post last month.
The unruly 6 years old cat is named after a character in Vladimir Nabokov’s book “Lolita”. He was originally born in the shelter but was returned a few months ago after his adopter had to move and could not take him along. And so Quilty came back to the shelter.
Not long after his return, Quilty began his nightly prison break activities.
“We would come in in the morning and have to collect all 15 of the cats who had had a blast during the night,” Jennifer Hopkins, the spokeswoman for Friends for Life told CNN.
A review of security footage showed the culprit was Quilty, who would jump up and pull the handle down on the door. Three times, he managed to free himself and the dozen or so other senior cats. This led the staffers at the shelter to put him in “solitary confinement” in the building’s lobby.
Pictures of the cat soon erupted on social media after the shelter’s Facebook post which shows Quilty looking forlorn in the lobby to which he had been banished.
A #FreeQuilty movement kicked off on social media through an Instagram account created (by the shelter) for the cat, @free_quilty. His fan base grew larger thanks to the shelter’s frequent updates of his antics.
The shelter had his face on shirts and stickers and began selling black #FreeQuilty wristbands. They also held a mock news conference on Friday.
According to the latest update by the shelter, Quilty is now on a sleepover (a one-week “trial” period where a potential adopter takes an animal to their home to see how it’s going to work out). Here’s the latest update received by the shelter from his adopter:
“Hi! I just wanted to give you a Quilty update! He is doing really well. He hasn’t tried to hide at all and loves to be in the bed or on the couch snuggled up with one of us. He sleeps under my covers with me like a dog lol. He doesn’t really like the 2 dogs but they leave him alone so there aren’t any problems really, he just doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. I am hoping with a little time, he will get used to them. He hasn’t shown any slickness at all yet; he is the most loving and affectionate cat I have ever met!”
