Judge Blocks Cat Execution, Giving Her a Tenth Life
Boots the cat has been given a last-minute reprieve by a judge in Chicago after a bank official worked to block her scheduled execution.
According to CBS, Boots was scheduled to be put down due to her late owner's instructions. However, Sandra Buturusis, Boots' neighbor, campaigned on her behalf.
"She's lovable, playful. Though she's 11 years old, she doesn't act like it," Buturusis told CBS.
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After Boots' owner, Georgia Lee Dvorak, died in December, she left instructions for Boots to be put down.
"She was so afraid that if something happened to her, that the cat would not be taken care of and she'd go to another abusive home," Buturusis explained.
However, the executor of Dvorak's will took up Boots' cause and petitioned for the cat to be spared.
"We didn't want to euthanize this healthy, living animal," said Fifth Third Bank president Jeffrey Schmidt.
The judge heard the bank's petition and agreed to let Boots continue living a happy and healthy life. She has been placed in a home with a tradition of caring for cats, making everyone happy.
"I guess you could say this time curiosity saved the cat," Schmidt said. "We're very happy for that." In addition to placing Boots in a new home, the Bank has donated supplies and food to the cat's new residence.
Dvorak was certainly an animal lover, leaving over $11 million to animal charities.
"She had a really big heart," neighbor Buturusis told CBS. "She loved animals."
While the Bank officials and Buturusis are happy with the court's decision, some are wondering whether it was in Boots' best interest to be taken to an animal shelter. This "is probably exactly what the owner did not want and her wishes, sadly, were ignored," user Anne wrote on the CBS website.
"Nice thing to do, but it says very little about the Bank and its efforts to carry out the wishes of the deceased… I would think hard and fast about this bank carrying out my last wishes," added Skyehawk1.
