Story Archive

Missing MeowMeow II

According to Tim Warga, he trapped a gray, short-haired feral cat in the crawlspace of his Athens, Ohio, home, and then dropped it off in a parking lot. Amber Cavender, however, claims that Warga took her black and white pet cat, MeowMeow. When the alleged catnaping happened, Cavender called police, but “The officer told me that if I wanted to pursue it, I should file a small-claims action,” Cavender said. “So I did.” After an Athens County Humane Agent investigation, Warga was charged with animal abandonment — and he and Sue Pepper, who he lives with, countersued Cavender for over $15,000 for libel, slander, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and tortuous interference with a contract. Since that amount is well over the $3,000 small-claims limit, the case has been moved to Athens County Common Pleas Court. Cavender has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to cover the cost of defending the countersuit. (MS/Athens News) ...Unlike MeowMeow, the case is no longer black and white.