Rant: 'Upsetting' news about estranged grandparents

[Brittany_Lynn]

I found out some very upsetting news about animal abuse at the hands of my grandparents from my little brother.
My brother keeps in contact with my father and his parents, but I don't. They basically disowned me for acknowledging the fact that my father is a physically abusive POS who is in and out of jail, so those are the kind of people we're dealing with off the bat. Today my father was released from prison after about 8 months, and when my brother went over to see him and my grandparents, he saved a small, ~6 week old kitten from death.
My grandparents had "like 30 cats and kittens" that they didn't want, and they live out in the country so IDK if people dropped them off at their place or what, but they were "overrun" with them. Apparently my brother and his girlfriend mentioned that they liked this one little black kitten so my grandmother said, offhandedly, 'I'll save it for you'...they thought she meant that she wouldn't give it away, but what she actually meant was that she would literally save it from being killed. They went to the store for kitten food and came back to either already dead kittens, or to witness the act of my grandfather killing them. I don't really feel comfortable putting the details out there unless someone is interested, but needless to say it was cruel and inhumane. But they 'saved' Sasha for my brother and his girlfriend. Apparently there were 4 or 5 kittens of the exact same age who were killed, along with up to 15 other cats/kittens.
I don't even know what to do with this information. SO MUCH of me wants to march over there and see them for the first time in 5 years so I can tell them what terrible, soulless people--no, scratch that, ANIMALS--they are. Part of me wants to call the humane society and tell them what happened, and hope they get put in jail, but the rest of me that is holding me back from all of that is both afraid of my father and has this tiiiiiiiiiiny little piece of "loyalty" telling me that it's "wrong" to turn my family members over to the police.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.
This is Sasha, the single surviving kitten.

 

[Luci]

this is a really difficult situation. i wasnt expecting this at all.

my first initial reaction to this is that it needs to be reported. NEEDS TO. i say this because animals have the right to be treated fairly. if the animals are not welcome at a person's property, they can easily call animal control to get them. its easy and simple, and the cats are not killed in a cruel way (not even gonna ask how your grandfather killed them). to not do the simple task of calling animal control makes me wonder if he enjoys doing this (i dont want to sound heartless at all, i know this is a difficult situation-im just answering regarding the general issue). sweet jesus...15 OTHER cats along with those kittens? thats too much in one day. one thing that came to mind was "what if someones PET wanders over there". if the owners found out your grandfather killed it, that could be a whole new mess of problems.
the situation isnt pretty at all. something needs to be done. the cats should not be killed in this manner at all when they could have a chance at adoption.

for the family aspect of this...brittany, i dont even know what to say. its natural to have loyalty to family. this situation bothers you. and by not doing anything, it will continue to bother you. i would be devastated. but they dont exactly sound like compassionate people in the first place. your father is abusive. they dont want to accept it. he most likely became that way through them. animal abuse leads to physical abuse in many cases. things like that should not go unpunished. as much as it pains you, something should be done. are there neighbors around? is there a possibility that if a report was filed, it could seem as though someone else filed it? i dont want YOU to be dragged down by your father or grandparents for reporting this. but...someone has to.

im really glad your brother too sasha. she looks adorable. every creature has a heart and is capable of love. im glad she got the chance to experience that.

think this through. talk to your mom about it, or someone close to you. you cant keep this in.

 

[caiti]

If you think they will change their ways if you speak to them, I would suggest that. Maybe if you threaten them with calling the police they will stop but they'd have to know that you would need some way to check up on them and make sure they don't start slaughtering animals again.

If not, or you can't handle talking to them, I would suggest going to the ASPCA or someplace. At least they would be euthanized humanely there. If you are afraid of your father doing something to you, you'd have to weigh that against how much you feel you should go to the authorities or stop your grandparents from slaughtering animals. I'm not sure exactly what you're afraid of him doing and that is your business, but if you do report the animal abuse maybe you could try to tell the police you are afraid of your father. I'm not sure how much they can do without him threatening you, though. The line is tricky there because I want your grandparents to stop, but I don't want any of your family members to come after you either. It would depend how severe the consequences are and what you think will happen. Personally, I would go to the police and sleep with an aluminum bat under my bed. But I am not you and I could never fully understand your situation unless I was, so I cannot ultimately tell you what to do and it would be foolish of me to.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with turning family members over to the police when you need to. One doesn't need to feel any loyalty towards people who bring incredible suffering to others.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

Thank you for the thoughtful responses.
My mother is the one who told me what happened originally, which was almost the most frustrating part because she doesn't like cats--obviously she has a soul so she's not going to hear something like that and think, 'oh well'--but she knows that I love all animals deeply, on a level that she sometimes finds disturbing, but she "had to tell me". When I told her I was going to call animal control, she flipped out and told me that I wasn't thinking about the safety of the people involved (IE her and my brother). My father has no clue where I live, but he does know where my mother lives, as well as my brother (who lives separate from her). My brother is his favorite (out of the 4 of us) so even though it would be obvious that Jake told someone, he's the one who is in the least amount of danger.

are there neighbors around? is there a possibility that if a report was filed, it could seem as though someone else filed it?

Their POS neighbor left the 5 (probably more, originally) kittens on their doorstep, tied up in a pillowcase, at 2 days old. So obviously they wouldn't expect their neighbors to have reported them.

one thing that came to mind was "what if someones PET wanders over there".

That's another disturbing part, when I was little I remember that one of their neighbors shot my grandparents dog for wandering into their yard--it was definitely the neighbor, that dog was given more attention than me in some situations, killing an animal they loved that much would be out of the question for them. But apparently cats don't count? UGH. I know for a fact they have a small chihuahua mix, one adult cat, and one cockatiel currently.

I don't think the other 15 cats were killed on the same day. I believe it took place a few days before hand, over the course of a day or two. My brother wouldn't talk about that though.

I actually made an appointment with my therapist to talk about this because its been bothering me so much, I'll be making a decision in a few hours, so I'll come back on here and chat about it.

 

[Maia]

This makes me too angry to really post my opinions in a calm rational manner!! I will say however, that these people are animal murderers and they need to be reported! I am just sorry they are your family.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

My therapist and I decided that my original reaction was just leftover PTSD, and that to help me empower myself it is necessary for me to contact animal control, my feelings about animals aside. Coupled with the fact that I can't stand the thought of anyone getting away with something like this, especially my family, I called animal control.

Apparently it is 'secondhand news' if I report it, so they wanted to talk to my brother, who was there at the time it happened. He told me that "if anyone calls me about those cats, I'll tell them to **** off. Don't give them my number." I asked him how he can look at Sasha and just ignore what happened to her siblings, and he said that our grandparents "are too poor to pay some fine just because they got rid of some cats that would have had a ****ty life anyway. They couldn't afford the cats so-" (Me) "All they needed to do was making one simple phone call, animal control would have arrived and taken ALL the cats, and they would have been adopted into loving homes. You're telling me they deserve to be dead because your grandparents couldn't be bothered to pick up the phone?"
He hung up on me.

I'm really disappointed in him, but I can't do anything about it. Except write a letter telling my grandparents what terrible people they are, which I am going to do, right now. I'm about ready to move to California with my chinchillas and just tell everyone that I'm an orphan with no siblings, no family to speak of. Not the first time I've contemplated it..

 

[StevieP]

What state do your grandparents live in? Depending on the state he could face misdemeanor charges, which IMO isn't enough but he should face the consequences.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I'm crazy enough that I would give my brother's address and the grandparents' address to the authorities. Let them go interview those people and figure out the truth of the story.

I have an inkling of what he did to those cats...and they didn't deserve that. Some of them may have been put down at the shelter, but it would have been humane and not a terrifying experience.

 

[Jazicat]

Report them and give your brother's number. Maybe he will have a change of heart but that is the best you can do. Otherwise I would stay away from all of them as they are not good people and any contact would be bad. Keep working with your doctor to find healthy ways of letting go of all of them to be healthy. This has worked for me and I hope it does for you.

 

[Laurie]

Brittany, family is more than the sperm that created it. I get so tired of hearing people say the "have" to love them because they are your family. NO YOU DON'T! You don't have to love them or care about them. You do not want to associate with them at all, so turn them in, they deserved to be turned in. Human beings that kill and torture animals are sociopaths. Know any sociopaths? I've heard of a few--Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, Richard Allen Davis, Ailene Wournos, Henry Lee Lucas--if you aren't familiar with any of these names take a moment to look them up.

This is intolerable behavior that should not be swept under the carpet.

Do not confront or visit your grandparents, just report them.

 

[Harleychin]

They only person you have to love is yourself.
You do what is best for you.

 

[Spoof]

Dealing with family is always hard. It is illegal to shoot or kill wild/feral or domestic cats in most states.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

I live in NYS. Apparently the DA can't do anything if I wasn't physically present, even if they did break the law. Apparently the gentleman I called and reported the situation to knows my grandparents--and he didn't mention it in a "oh hey I know them, how are they doing" sort of way...it was more like "crap I know them...I can't believe I gotta go over there again"
...ugh
He said that even though he can't press charges he is going over to tell them that he knows what they did, and told me he'll be keeping an eye on their garbage to see if any "evidence" turns up. I mentioned to him that they kept one cat, and also have a small dog and a cockatiel, that upset him so I'm hoping he will at least seize the cat under suspicion of cruelty or something.

Spoof, they shot the adult cats but they reserved a more 'special' form of killing for the kittens. It's beyond imagination, so don't even attempt to guess.

I told my brother that I hope he looks at his cat's face everyday and somehow finds a way to justify the murder of her siblings and parents and everything else, because I sure as **** wouldn't be able to do it. He isn't talking to me :\ He doesn't go to therapy or anything so I don't know how he's feeling considering he's 20 years old and is dealing with crap that no one, let alone a kid who *just* moved out on their own should have to deal with. He was in his apartment for 2 days before he brought Sasha in.