Home Depot: Investigate Community-Cat Removals and Account for Every Missing Cat
Home Depot: Investigate Community-Cat Removals and Account for Every Missing Cat
The Issue
A tiny newborn kitten was found alone at Home Depot Store #6576 in Kerrville, Texas.
She survived. Her mother and siblings are still missing.
Rescuers allege that cats at the property were trapped by a third-party company, covered with plastic in approximately 108°F heat, taken away, and never accounted for. They say they were told the cats would be taken somewhere and dumped.
Where did they go? Are they alive?
And now there is reason to ask a much bigger question:
WHAT IS HOME DEPOT'S POLICY FOR COMMUNITY CATS REMOVED FROM ITS PROPERTIES?
Kerrville does not appear to be the only Home Depot location where the removal of community cats has raised serious questions.
LAKE CITY, FLORIDA — STORE #6864
A recent public account says a caregiver had been allowed to care for cats at this Home Depot for six years, feeding them and ensuring they were spayed and neutered so the colony would not continue reproducing. According to that account, after a management change, the caregiver was trespassed from the property and a third-party company began removing cats.
The Ranch Rescue, a local organization, was reportedly willing to remove the cats and find them homes.
The fundamental question remains: Where are the cats being taken?
NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
In March 2026, Live 5 News reported that cats from a managed TNR colony disappeared after trapping began at a Home Depot. Caregivers and a local rescue said they could not confirm where the removed cats had gone.
Home Depot responded to the news station and said it had asked the store to stop working with the trapper.
That matters.
It demonstrates that Home Depot can intervene when concerns arise about contractors removing community cats from its properties.
We do not yet know whether these incidents represent a broader corporate problem.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHY HOME DEPOT CORPORATE NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE.
These incidents also raise legitimate legal questions in multiple states.
Texas Penal Code §42.092 expressly protects stray and feral cats and prohibits conduct including transporting or confining an animal in a cruel manner and unreasonable abandonment. Kerrville separately prohibits inhumane treatment and abandonment and regulates animal trapping.
Florida Statutes §§828.12 and 828.13 address cruelty, cruel or inhumane transportation and certain forms of animal abandonment.
South Carolina law likewise prohibits animal ill-treatment and abandonment under §§47-1-40 and 47-1-70.
Florida and South Carolina law also contain provisions addressing corporations and the conduct or knowledge of their agents or employees in connection with animals under circumstances covered by their respective statutes.
We are not claiming that Home Depot or any particular employee committed a crime.
WE ARE DEMANDING AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Three states. Multiple Home Depot locations. Repeated questions about community cats being removed from company property.
The common question is painfully simple:
WHERE DID THE CATS GO?
WE DEMAND THAT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE:
1. FIND AND ACCOUNT FOR THE KERRVILLE CATS.
Determine the present location and condition of every cat removed from Store #6576, including the rescued newborn kitten's missing mother and siblings.
2. INVESTIGATE KERRVILLE STORE #6576.
Determine who authorized the trapping, which company was hired, what instructions it received, how the cats were confined, where they were transported, and who ultimately received them.
Specifically investigate the allegation that trapped cats were covered with plastic in approximately 108°F heat.
3. PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE NOW.
Immediately preserve surveillance footage, work orders, contracts, invoices, photographs, incident reports, emails, texts, contractor communications and other records relating to the trapping and removal of these animals before evidence can be overwritten or lost.
4. RECONSTRUCT THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY.
For every removed cat, establish:
Who trapped the animal?
Who transported it?
Where was it taken?
Who received it?
What happened to it afterward?
Can its current welfare be independently verified?
A cat should never disappear into a contractor's vehicle with no verifiable destination.
5. INVESTIGATE THE LAKE CITY AND NORTH CHARLESTON CASES.
Determine what happened at these locations, which contractors were involved, where removed cats were taken, whether rescue or TNR alternatives were available, and whether company policies or applicable animal-protection laws were followed.
6. AUDIT HOME DEPOT'S THIRD-PARTY ANIMAL-REMOVAL CONTRACTORS.
Identify contractors being used by Home Depot stores to trap or remove community cats. Determine what animal-welfare standards they must follow and whether Home Depot requires documentation showing the final disposition of every animal.
7. TAKE ACTION IF WRONGDOING IS SUBSTANTIATED.
If Home Depot's investigation establishes employee misconduct, improper contractor practices, violations of company policy, or potential violations of animal-welfare laws, take appropriate disciplinary or contractual action and provide relevant evidence to the appropriate authorities.
8. ALLOW INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION.
If Home Depot or one of its contractors maintains that removed cats were safely relocated, provide sufficient information to an appropriate authority or qualified independent animal-welfare organization to verify the animals' location and welfare.
9. CREATE A NATIONWIDE HUMANE COMMUNITY-CAT POLICY.
Home Depot should establish a clear nationwide policy requiring humane trapping, compliance with state and local law, consultation with qualified animal-control, rescue or TNR organizations, appropriate consideration of established managed colonies, and documented disposition of every animal removed from company property.
No Home Depot store should hire someone to remove community cats without knowing where those animals are going.
No cat should simply disappear when a contractor drives away.
And no caregiver, rescue organization or community should have to fight afterward just to learn whether those animals are alive.
We are not asking the public to assume what happened.
We are asking Home Depot to FIND OUT.
Find the Kerrville cats.
Account for the cats removed from these properties.
Determine whether this is an isolated series of incidents or evidence of a larger problem in Home Depot's animal-removal practices.
Hold employees or contractors accountable if the evidence warrants it.
And create a humane nationwide policy so that every Home Depot store knows exactly what must happen when community cats are living on its property.
One tiny kitten in Kerrville made it to safety.
Her mother and siblings are still missing.
Someone knows where these cats went.
HOME DEPOT: FIND OUT.
51
The Issue
A tiny newborn kitten was found alone at Home Depot Store #6576 in Kerrville, Texas.
She survived. Her mother and siblings are still missing.
Rescuers allege that cats at the property were trapped by a third-party company, covered with plastic in approximately 108°F heat, taken away, and never accounted for. They say they were told the cats would be taken somewhere and dumped.
Where did they go? Are they alive?
And now there is reason to ask a much bigger question:
WHAT IS HOME DEPOT'S POLICY FOR COMMUNITY CATS REMOVED FROM ITS PROPERTIES?
Kerrville does not appear to be the only Home Depot location where the removal of community cats has raised serious questions.
LAKE CITY, FLORIDA — STORE #6864
A recent public account says a caregiver had been allowed to care for cats at this Home Depot for six years, feeding them and ensuring they were spayed and neutered so the colony would not continue reproducing. According to that account, after a management change, the caregiver was trespassed from the property and a third-party company began removing cats.
The Ranch Rescue, a local organization, was reportedly willing to remove the cats and find them homes.
The fundamental question remains: Where are the cats being taken?
NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
In March 2026, Live 5 News reported that cats from a managed TNR colony disappeared after trapping began at a Home Depot. Caregivers and a local rescue said they could not confirm where the removed cats had gone.
Home Depot responded to the news station and said it had asked the store to stop working with the trapper.
That matters.
It demonstrates that Home Depot can intervene when concerns arise about contractors removing community cats from its properties.
We do not yet know whether these incidents represent a broader corporate problem.
THAT IS EXACTLY WHY HOME DEPOT CORPORATE NEEDS TO INVESTIGATE.
These incidents also raise legitimate legal questions in multiple states.
Texas Penal Code §42.092 expressly protects stray and feral cats and prohibits conduct including transporting or confining an animal in a cruel manner and unreasonable abandonment. Kerrville separately prohibits inhumane treatment and abandonment and regulates animal trapping.
Florida Statutes §§828.12 and 828.13 address cruelty, cruel or inhumane transportation and certain forms of animal abandonment.
South Carolina law likewise prohibits animal ill-treatment and abandonment under §§47-1-40 and 47-1-70.
Florida and South Carolina law also contain provisions addressing corporations and the conduct or knowledge of their agents or employees in connection with animals under circumstances covered by their respective statutes.
We are not claiming that Home Depot or any particular employee committed a crime.
WE ARE DEMANDING AN INVESTIGATION TO DETERMINE WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED.
Three states. Multiple Home Depot locations. Repeated questions about community cats being removed from company property.
The common question is painfully simple:
WHERE DID THE CATS GO?
WE DEMAND THAT HOME DEPOT CORPORATE:
1. FIND AND ACCOUNT FOR THE KERRVILLE CATS.
Determine the present location and condition of every cat removed from Store #6576, including the rescued newborn kitten's missing mother and siblings.
2. INVESTIGATE KERRVILLE STORE #6576.
Determine who authorized the trapping, which company was hired, what instructions it received, how the cats were confined, where they were transported, and who ultimately received them.
Specifically investigate the allegation that trapped cats were covered with plastic in approximately 108°F heat.
3. PRESERVE THE EVIDENCE NOW.
Immediately preserve surveillance footage, work orders, contracts, invoices, photographs, incident reports, emails, texts, contractor communications and other records relating to the trapping and removal of these animals before evidence can be overwritten or lost.
4. RECONSTRUCT THE CHAIN OF CUSTODY.
For every removed cat, establish:
Who trapped the animal?
Who transported it?
Where was it taken?
Who received it?
What happened to it afterward?
Can its current welfare be independently verified?
A cat should never disappear into a contractor's vehicle with no verifiable destination.
5. INVESTIGATE THE LAKE CITY AND NORTH CHARLESTON CASES.
Determine what happened at these locations, which contractors were involved, where removed cats were taken, whether rescue or TNR alternatives were available, and whether company policies or applicable animal-protection laws were followed.
6. AUDIT HOME DEPOT'S THIRD-PARTY ANIMAL-REMOVAL CONTRACTORS.
Identify contractors being used by Home Depot stores to trap or remove community cats. Determine what animal-welfare standards they must follow and whether Home Depot requires documentation showing the final disposition of every animal.
7. TAKE ACTION IF WRONGDOING IS SUBSTANTIATED.
If Home Depot's investigation establishes employee misconduct, improper contractor practices, violations of company policy, or potential violations of animal-welfare laws, take appropriate disciplinary or contractual action and provide relevant evidence to the appropriate authorities.
8. ALLOW INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION.
If Home Depot or one of its contractors maintains that removed cats were safely relocated, provide sufficient information to an appropriate authority or qualified independent animal-welfare organization to verify the animals' location and welfare.
9. CREATE A NATIONWIDE HUMANE COMMUNITY-CAT POLICY.
Home Depot should establish a clear nationwide policy requiring humane trapping, compliance with state and local law, consultation with qualified animal-control, rescue or TNR organizations, appropriate consideration of established managed colonies, and documented disposition of every animal removed from company property.
No Home Depot store should hire someone to remove community cats without knowing where those animals are going.
No cat should simply disappear when a contractor drives away.
And no caregiver, rescue organization or community should have to fight afterward just to learn whether those animals are alive.
We are not asking the public to assume what happened.
We are asking Home Depot to FIND OUT.
Find the Kerrville cats.
Account for the cats removed from these properties.
Determine whether this is an isolated series of incidents or evidence of a larger problem in Home Depot's animal-removal practices.
Hold employees or contractors accountable if the evidence warrants it.
And create a humane nationwide policy so that every Home Depot store knows exactly what must happen when community cats are living on its property.
One tiny kitten in Kerrville made it to safety.
Her mother and siblings are still missing.
Someone knows where these cats went.
HOME DEPOT: FIND OUT.
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Petition created on September 23, 2026