Front Page  »  

San Luis Obispo woman hoping to get her cat back

October 12, 2020

Maulks

By KAREN VELIE

When San Luis Obispo resident Kelly Anderson lost her cat Maulks in late August, she never thought she’d have to fight to get her beloved cat back.

Anderson was surprised at the community support she received after her 13-year-old three-legged cat failed to come home. She placed missing cat signs around town and posted a plea on Nextdoor for neighbors to help her find her cat.

“Even strangers have reached out to help,” Anderson said. “It is very encouraging.”

On Saturday, SLO City Council candidate James Papp said he knew where the cat was, but did not disclose the location.

“Found Maulks safe in a new home,” Papp responded to Anderson on Nextdoor. “More later.”

Maulks has always lived as an indoor and outdoor cat, often wandering around its downtown neighborhood. On several occasions, Anderson has retrieved her cat from Papp’s place.

Papp said his door was open, the cat walked in, and he fed Maulks.

During the past three days, Papp and Anderson have gone back and forth on Nextdoor, with Papp insisting the cat is happy in its new home, and Anderson pleading for him to tell her where her cat is located.

Papp argues that when you allow a cat to wander outside, you have a reasonable expectation it will not come back. He also questions if anyone can truly own a cat.

Exchange from Nextdoor:

Anderson: “Why wouldn’t you tell me where or give them my info so I can get him back? You know I’ve been worried and trying to find him. This message makes me upset. As if your the one to decide whats best. Can you please give me their info.”

Papp: “The person who had Maulks is themself very upset. Someone told me not to get involved because everyone would be upset at me, but I wanted you to know he is safe.”

Anderson: “Why would they be upset? It is not their cat. Why would you tell me you know where he is, but won’t tell me? I have been searching for over a month. Called animal services multiple times. Filed reports. Fliers. Gone door to door. And your telling me that what these people are doing is ok. You are supporting theft. Aren’t you running for city council? Aren’t you supposed to help the people of this city?”

Papp argues that it is not reasonable to let cats wander, and that if she loved the cat, she would keep it indoors.

“It is now an indoor cat, and it is happy,” Papp said. “The cat has three legs because it is allowed to wander.”

Papp claims Anderson has left the cat unattended when she leaves town for work, showing she does not love the cat.

“If she loves this animal, she would not let it wander,” Papp said. “It is not my business. This is taking away from city issues such as homelessness and climate change.”

Anderson says Papp does not know her, and that when she works out of town, she hires a cat sitter.

Anderson is hoping to be reunited with Maulks, and has filed a police report.


Loading...
Related:


70 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“themself”? Is this Papp guy an idiot or developmentally delayed? Give the lady her damn cat back.


63

He sounds very progressive…and they always know what’s best for everyone else!


36

This is crazy Papp should have kept mouth closed. Also cat has had 2 owners!! If there are leash laws for dogs then WHY should a cat that supposedly LOVED, NOT protected? A senior cat with 3 legs allowed to roam how irresponsible. What this tells me is ANY Nice cat allowed to roam should be intercepted and taken to Animal Services end of arguing. It is NOT cruel to have a total indoor cat, build an outside enclosure. It is cruel to Not protect the senior animal with 3 legs. Time to change some ordinances in this County. Then perhaps people will wake up to facts, a pet needs to be protected. Shame on the 2nd owner. BTW how did the cat loose it’s leg?


-64

Are you okay?


Animal Services would have returned Maulks to Kelly because she reported him missing and provided photos. The cat thief won’t turn him into Animal Services because he wants to keep Maulks as his own. That’s just plain wrong.


39

People keep latching on to the fact that this cat has 3 legs; therefore, calling him disabled. The cat is not disabled. He’s in perfect health and happens to have 3 legs. He can run just as fast as the other neighborhood cats. The cat has two owners because the first owner was unable to care for the cat any longer, and gave him to Kelly. I wasn’t aware that a cat couldn’t have 2 owners. And if you’ve ever owned an indoor/outdoor cat, which you clearly haven’t, you would know that it is completely cruel to force him to become an indoor cat when he’s spent over a decade being outside. How would you like to be forced to stay inside and never let out of your house again? Interestingly, Papp has gone from saying the cat is being kept inside to the cat is free to roam outside. If we can even believe what he says at this point, Downtown neighbors, keep an eye out!


26

Maybe Papp can apply his dogma to the homeless problem he mentioned.


Lock them inside somewhere and then they can’t wander around and cause problems.


47

Kelly is a young woman, and is definitely not a “troll” or “right wing” for that matter, as James Papp called her. She’s not even involved in local politics, nor did she “threaten” Papp in any way on social media as he is claiming. If you don’t believe me, you can look at all her comments on Nextdoor. She doesn’t have Facebook, so whatever is on Facebook, she had nothing to do with. She asked Papp why he is running for city council if he’s unwilling to help her as a neighbor and citizen of the community. Her comments speak for themselves. She has been very clear she wants her cat back, and she encouraged the public to contact Papp to ask him to reunite her with her cat.


Papp had the nerve to say on Congalton that if someone let’s their cat outside, the cat is deemed a “stray” and anyone can “seize the cat.” I can only imagine how many cat lovers he’s aggravated with those remarks.


Kelly has stated numerous times that she does not know this man, so why he has taken it upon himself to essentially re-home her cat is beyond me. Kelly posted about her cat several times on Nextdoor ever since he went MIA in late August. Every single time she posted something, Papp commented how much he adores her cat and how he hopes she finds him (again, you can see for yourself on Nextdoor). Papp then did a 180 and basically told her nope, sorry, your cat has a new home – let it go. He is unbelievable. Kelly maintained her composure quite well on social media if you ask me.


I bet he’s known where the cat is from day one. Smells like a giant publicity stunt which clearly has backfired. When he does lose the election, he will only have himself to blame.


Papp, if you’re reading this, quit dragging this poor girl’s name out of the mud.


55

My money is on Papp having the cat himself. He also probably believes that anything you leave out in your yard is free for the taking too…”If you really cherished that item you would lock it in your house”….or maybe he even goes as far as if it’s in your house and not in a safe it’s fair game! I’m just glad I don’t live in SLO…it’s politics are no longer in sync with its constituents.


37

Hello SLO pilot,


You hit the nail on the head! Kelly’s composure and grace throughout this ordeal are commendable. She’s amazing. I posted the story on a Lost Pets of SLO County Facebook Group and many people there are ballistic over the situation, even though Maulks is not their cat. One person said, “I’d burn this town down if there was a conspiracy to keep my cat away from me.” Pets are part of our families and animal lovers in that FB Group understand the love Kelly feels for Maulks.


I’ve followed Kelly’s posts on Nextdoor, wondering what happened to Maulks and hoping he would turn up. It was shocking to read James Papp’s latest post, telling Kelly that Maulks has a new home. As more facts come out, such as the Papp allowing Maulks into his house and feeding him even after Kelly asked him not to do so, it seems that Papp has some weird fixation on the cat.


Papp’s lack of compassion for Kelly’s feelings and condescending lectures on Nextdoor, Facebook, and Dave Congalton’s radio show today, are over the top and make it apparent to me that he is not fit to make important decisions about our community. His arrogance – that it’s his way or the highway, without any consideration about looking at the big picture – make it crystal clear that the City Council’s decision to remove him from the Cultural Heritage Committee was the correct decision. I get it now.


For every one person who criticizes Kelly, there are hundreds who are surrounding her with support, even from afar. People have offered to chip in money for a reward, to build a website to bring more awareness to the cause, to picket outside James Papp’s office. On Dave’s show today, Papp said that Anne Gough told him to keep things quiet, and a Nextdoor post indicates Ms. Gough told Kelly to drop it. The audacity of these people is unreal. It shocks the conscience. The story has been shared hundreds of times and the momentum is growing. Hopefully, Kelly feels the support, and the story will have a just ending, with Maulks returning home to his mom.


37

THIS guy wants to make decisions for me and my community???? Pretty heavy handed here, James. Self righteous, too. I especially love this line, “It is not my business.”


Better article title: James Papp is an Idiot


74

Papp will fit right in with the SLO City Council….


Forcing on you what he thinks is best regardless of what the vast majority want!


59

Though not on the same level; if it were a child versus a cat Mr. Papp would be in trouble for aiding and abetting a crime-kidnapping.

He knows who the rightful owner is from previous history, and I suspect the “new owner” does as well. Neither return the pet, as they’ve deemed the old owner unworthy to own. Kitty Star Chamber if you will. Please don’t hang this as something the”left” wants. Dude is nuts. Rabid rescue people know no political affiliation persuasion either — they are just bonkers.

Cats weren’t meant to be indoors—forcing them to live inside is cruel. Pulling out their claws and hobbling them is pretty sick too.


32

Agree wholeheartedly except “rabid”and “rescue people” don’t belong in the same sentence. What Papp is doing has nothing to do with rescue. He’s wrong,he knows it, but he’s one of those people who will NEVER admit it.


10

Papp says “Someone told me not to get involved because everyone would be upset at me”. Nice try, but he DID get involved by his messages and his judgement saying she does not love the cat. If everything is on the up and up as Papp claims, then why is he hiding the identity of whoever has taken the cat.


Also, by claiming the cat is happy, Papp must have been able to closely observe the cat to determine this. In other words, Papp almost definitely has the cat himself.


Someone should keep Papp’s house under surveillance to see if the cat can be spotted. I had a neighbor try to keep my cat, so I called her name and tapped her favorite can of food outside his house and she came running up to his window to find me. The neighbor was busted and had no choice but to pretend he had no idea how my cat got in his house and give her back to me. Kelly should try the same tactic.


Papp is clearly lacking any human decency and has no place in public office. He should be ashamed of himself. Who wants to organize a “FREE MAULKS” protest in front of his house?? Cat lives matter!


60

Kelly Anderson has been a family friend for years, so I know her quite well. She is a young woman and is definitely not a “troll” or “right wing” for that matter, as James Papp called her. She’s not even involved in local politics nor did she “threaten” Papp in any way on social media, as he is claiming. If you don’t believe me, you can go look at all her comments on NextDoor. Her comments speak for themselves. She doesn’t have Facebook, so whatever is on Facebook she’s had nothing to do with. She asked Papp why he’s running for city council if he is not willing to help her as a neighbor and citizen of this community. She was very clear, she wants her cat back, and she encouraged the public to contact James Papp to ask him to reunite her with her cat.


Papp also had the balls to say on Congalton that if someone lets their cat outside, that cat is deemed a “stray” and anyone can “seize the cat.” I can only imagine how many cat lovers he p*ssed off with that remark.


Kelly does NOT know this man, except for one maybe two brief neighborly conversations with him several months ago, so why he has taken it upon himself to essentially re-home her cat for her is beyond me. Kelly posted about her cat several times on NextDoor ever since he went MIA in August. Every single time she posted something, Papp commented how much he adores her cat and how he hopes she finds him. Papp then did a 180 and publicly told her nope, sorry, your cat has a new home now – let it go. Every time she posted a new flyer in front of Papp’s house, the flyer was ripped down. He is unbelievable, and his behavior speaks volumes.


My money says that he has known where the cat was from Day 1. This was nothing but a giant publicity stunt which is guaranteed to backfire. When he loses the election, he will only have himself to blame. And Papp, if you’re reading this, quit dragging Kelly’s name through the mud.


25

Where do Papp and Kelly Anderson live? This information will help provide leads to the recovery of the cat.


16

James Papp is in the Sauer-Adams Adobe on Chorro, across the street from the Mission. The cat enjoyed hanging out in the fenced-in garden behind the Adobe and socializing with the Gough’s cat. Kelly lives a couple of blocks away.


26

I didn’t think my comment got posted, so I accidentally posted it twice. Sorry about that folks!


8
1 2 3 4 5