Near the Baton Rouge location of Backyard Adventures, thereused to be a colony of feral cats. Thesecats were unsocialized and unadoptable, but a group of caring individuals managed the colony, feeding them and getting any newcomers neutered and ear-tipped. The businesses in the area welcomed the feralcats, as they served as a highly effective form of rodent control. But recently, business owners and colony caretakers noticedthat cats were disappearing at an alarming rate. Yet Animal Control had no records of cats from this area being turned in. Obviously, something very bad was happening here. Then one of the colony caretakers noticed a cat trap onBackyard Adventuress property. Animal Control confirmed that the trap was nottheirs. They had never lent a trap tothe people at Backyard Adventures, nor had they taken in any cats fromthem. At this point it became clear whatwas going on. A volunteer confronted the owner of Backyard Adventures, ChuckSaia, informing him that they knew he was responsible for the catsdisappearance. At that time, Saia openlyadmitted that he had been trapping the cats and then dumping themelsewhere. The volunteer informed thebusiness owner that while he would be perfectly within his rights to trap nuisance animals and send them to Animal Control, what he was doing was animalcruelty and illegal. Saia replied thathe didnt care if what he was doing was cruel or illegal, as long as the cats were gone. From there, things got worse. After learning that many compassionate peoplecared about the wellbeing of the colony, Chuck Saia began to take a sadisticpleasure from taunting and thwarting the efforts of these caring individuals. On one occasion, when a caretaker arrived tofeed the cats, Saia actually physically blocked the caretakers car in with hisown and then proceeded to threaten her and set up a trap right in front of her. Fearing that he would soon begin poisoningthe cats, volunteers began working to humanely and responsibly relocate theremaining cats. As volunteers caught the few remaining cats, the story tooka sad and disturbing new turn. All ofthe remaining cats that were trapped by volunteers turned out to be positivefor feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which means that those previouslytrapped and dumped by Saia were most likely FIV positive as well.in a strange and unfamiliar area, the catsthat Saia dumped would surely find themselves fighting with other cats, possiblyincluding peoples own pets.in doingso, they will transmit FIV to a new population of cats.in their distressed state, desperate for foodand water, and fighting with local cats, the immune-compromised cats that Saiadumped will surely suffer an excruciating death. But as long as they arent anywhere near his business, ChuckSaia doesnt care. Sadly, Chuck Saia will almost certainly never facejustice. While all parties involved concurthat his acts were very cruel, the consensus seems to be that actually gettingSaia convicted on animal cruelty charges would be nearly impossible. As yet, the business owner has not divulgedwhere he dumped the cats that he trapped, even though volunteers are desperateto intervene, both to save the dumped cats from horrible deaths as well as toprevent them from spreading FIV. Otherlocal businesses that cared for the cats are likewise deeply upset by what hashappened. Chuck Saia is just one dealer of Backyard Adventuresproducts. Volunteers also contacted BackyardAdventures, Inc., which describes itself as A family companywith family inmind, through their Contact Us link on their website, hoping that someonehigher up might be concerned by the actions of their Baton Rouge dealer. To date, there has been no response.in summary, when you do business with Backyard Adventures ofLouisiana, you hand your money over to a man who has no qualms about sentencingdefenseless cats to horrible deaths and then rubbing it in the faces of decent, caring people. If you have a shred ofcompassion in your heart for these innocent creatures, you will take yourbusiness elsewhere.
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