A troubling situation near Huffman has drawn animal rescuers and firefighters to a remote spot over Lake Houston, where someone appears to be taking people's pets and dumping them. So far, about eight cats have been pulled to safety, and a search is still on for a German shepherd mix wearing a collar that was left behind at the site.
The animals have been turning up at McKay Bridge, a historical railroad crossing over the water that is not a true island but a concrete stretch overgrown with trees and plants. Rescuers describe it as a harsh, wasteland-like place, littered with glass and trash, thick with waist-high weeds and poison ivy, an unlikely and unforgiving spot for a house pet to end up.
What convinces those involved that the animals were dumped, rather than strays that wandered in, is who they belong to. Rescuers say a number of the cats have already been identified and returned to their owners, and the dog is wearing a collar. There is no way, they say, that the cats or the dog could have reached the isolated crossing on their own, with the water far too wide for them to have swum across.
Getting the animals off the bridge has become a group effort. The Huffman Fire Department, the Houston Humane Society and various rescue groups and animal advocates have all pitched in. One man, Ernest, has been trapping the cats one by one, baiting and lowering a trap and then pulling them up, with the rescued animals set to be spayed, neutered and treated, as many of them are sick.
For some owners, the discoveries have been personal. One woman, Stacy Jameson, said her cat Mia went missing for three and a half months before turning up on the island, and she believes someone took the animal from her yard and dumped it there. Another woman has been feeding cats at the spot for about two years, a sign that the dumping may have been going on for a long time.
The rescued pets appear to be in good condition, undergoing medical checks with a vet and mostly just hungry and dehydrated after their ordeal, with rescuers saying they expect the animals to make it. Attention now turns to the dog still out there, with animal control officers expected to come out and try to dart and rescue the collared German shepherd mix, while a local rescue takes in the cats.