7/6 UPDATE: THIS WOMAN NEVER CALLED ME SUNDAY EVENING, 7/5: Therefore, I will pass on this information to the police, to be added to the police report for Thumper's theft.
My musings about the woman not calling in order to claim the reward:
(a) As a good Samaritan, the young woman and her SC boyfriend decided to not take the reward money, and so, therefore, they didn't call me to arrange a meeting, or
(b) she and her SC boyfriend WERE the thieves, who were running a scam which is as follows: they steal a pet and then later, contact the owner with a story that they had bought the pet off the street; they contact the owners listed on the pet's collar (which is still on the pet) in order to return the pet AND CLAIM A REWARD.
Friday night, 7/3 about 11:25pm, I got a call from a woman saying she found my cat. This woman had accidentally gone to a parallel street from my house, one block away, so I ran over there (she had gone to 1517 VERMONT avenue). At the SE corner of Vermont Avenue and Q Street, there were two woman standing there. Thumper was being held by a neighbor, with a young woman standing nearby. This young woman was the one who told me that she had bought Thumper and was now returning him to me. The description of this woman was as follows:
* about 20-25 years old was shorter than me--I'm 5'5"--at a height of about 5'2", 5' 3"
* blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, with a dark underside to the hair. The hair fell just to her shoulder, maybe to the middle of her shoulder blades.
* Lightskinned Mexican/Central American skin tone.
*slim like me--128lbs--BUT she looked a tad stockier just because she had a large bust and was hippy.
* her shirt was white and red, in a horizontal stripped pattern (thick stripes)
The woman said that, on a DC street, a "black man sold me this cat for $100 and said that it was a female, 2 years old"... This "female" cat had a collar on already when he sold the woman the cat. This man also said that he and his wife was moving and couldn't take him, and that later he would mail this woman the "female" cat's paperwork about rabies, etc. However, the woman never received the paperwork--hence, she decided to find the owner who's info was on the tags. This woman said that she thought the whole situation of the cat being sold on the street was not right, so she had decided to purchase the cat.
The woman decided to try to find the owner... because this "female" cat had a collar with tags. Yes, Thumper STILL had his original collar on with the 3 tags, including my address! When she told me this fact and I saw Thumper's original collar still on, I mused aloud, "Now, why would a thief leave the original collar and tags, when he sold the stolen cat to another?"
< this collar fact is veeeeery strange and gives much food-for-thought about Thumper's theft, for I would have thought that the thief would get rid of the incriminating evidence--that he was stolen--and taken off the collar. >
Anywho, to continue: So, that's how this woman found me. She went to the address on one of the tags, albeit the wrong street just one block away.
This woman said she lives nearby one or two blocks away, and her boyfriend was visiting from SC. He pulled up as we were talking. At this point, when her boyfriend got out to join me and the woman on the sidewalk, I had just mentioned to the woman that there was reward, although I couldn't give it tonight; instead, I told her to call me Sunday night after 6p, in order to coordinate a meeting time on Monday, July 6. I reached over to the nearby lightpole and ripped off the missing-cat poster and said, "here, take this; it has my contact info."
The woman said, "Oh, you have a website?"
"Yes," I replied, "and it has all the information about Thumper, the details of his disappearance where I have a witness who saw him being carried away, all updates to anywone seeing him, any leads, etc."
The description of the boyfriend was as follows:
* very light-skinnned Caucasian
* very skinny (I could see his bones--i.e., very bony looking)
* pointy face, and clean-shavened
* almost no hair (VERY tightly shaved, pretty much bald)
* about 5'10".
* blue jeans and white, short-sleeved t-shirt
* car: black with back spoiler, very much a car that is, hate to say this but I don't know how else to describe it, but the car was one that rednecks would drive out in the country, such as Frederick County, MD, which is where I'm originally from, say at the 75/80 dragstrip. A camero? I think a 2-door car.
Anywho, when the boyfriend stood next to me, Thumper, who had been shaking in my arms, started struggling to get out of my arms, digging his claws over my shoulders to my back < I realized the next morning, he was trying to get away from the boyfriend and the car that was still running> . Though his nails dug into me, I wouldn't let him go, so I had to break my conversation with the woman and her boyfriend in order to finally take Thumper home (before he ran out of arms and then truly, go "lost" in the DC streets!).
Readers, that's what happened when Thumper was returned, just the facts (except for the collar musing in the < > above, which is what I did think at the time). Thumper is now back and seems okay, except for an intense licking of his back. There is a forefinger length of bare skin in between his shoulder blades. 8(
Looking at this bare-skin area, with his licking, at first, I thought that, during his incarceration somewhere, he had got in a fight with another animal, or that the thief/thieves had grabbed him in between the shoulder blades, yanking and pullling the skin/hair. However, I noticed him licking the area. My thoughts, then: he licks his back due to his stressful time away from home, in the dastardly hands of another (to say it in mildly dramatic terms), or, he was hurt by another animal/human being and now he licks the area in order to try to make it better.
What happens now:
(1) I will take Thumper to a vet after the Fourth of july in order to get checked out.
(2) Sometime this weekend, I will show some still pictures of the woman who stole Molly to my neighbor witness in order to see if it's the same person who stole Thumper (although, as you can read above, in the young woman's purchase account, it was a man who sold Thumper to her).
(3) The woman and her boyfriend is calling me Sunday, so that on Monday we can meet and exchange a reward (actually, my plan: she can meet me at the 3rd District police station in order to add her experience/eyewitness account to Thumper's police report). 7/6 UPDATE: THIS WOMAN NEVER CALLED ME SUNDAY EVENING, 7/5: Therefore, I will pass on this information to the police, to be added to the police report for Thumper's theft.
< My musings about the woman not calling in order to claim the reward: (a) As a good Samaritan, the young woman and her SC boyfriend decided to not take the reward money, and so, therefore, they didn't call me to arrange a meeting, or (b) she and her SC boyfriend WERE the thieves, who were running a scam which is as follows: they steal a pet and then later, contact the owner with a story that they had bought the pet off the street; they contact the owners listed on the pet's collar (which is still on the pet) in order to return the pet AND CLAIM A REWARD.
(4) enjoy Thumper's presence again. yay.
btw, everyone, Molly the stolen dog is still out there in the hands of a thief. You can go to the section, "stolen dog/connection" for more information that was updated as of last night also (new developments to the dog's situation). I will continue to help Molly the dog's owners look for her in this Logan Circle/Dupont Circle west area (where people have seen the woman with Molly) and add any develpments to Molly's stolen section on this website.
Thank you everyone who has been vigilant, looking for Thumper. Your support and encouragement helped me very much to stay positive, hope and pray, and be persistent in searching for Thumper in all ways, during the week that he was in the hands of a thief.
Everyone with cats, I recommend to NOT let your cat out at all, because, especially if your cat is friendly, then unscrupulous people will snatch your cat and sell it to another, OR you will also be a victim of a scam as described above (and which is possibly what this young woman and boyfriend might have tried to do with me and Thumper). Please be aware of the pet thieves out there that are working our neighborhoods, AND be cognizant of the scams being perpetuated on pet owners, as evidenced by my experience with Thumper.
Have a nice and safe day.