This is the question I ask myself in reflection after having been accused of this and asked to leave a ranch recently. What seemed like a slam dunk job unfortunately ended with heated tempers and a kitten left behind.

A call came in from a woman asking for help in trapping a mom and four kittens. It appeared to be an easy job and I expected it to be over in an hour or two, once trapping commenced.

The next morning went anything but smoothly. The woman trapped the mom while I dealt with the kittens. Not only did no kittens appear until after the woman had left with their mother for her spay appointment, but I only managed to capture one of them in three hours. I would have to return in the evening to try again.

The evening trapping lasted another two hours, and again only netted one kitten. I spoke with the woman and asked her not to feed the remaining two, as I needed them hungry in the morning to finish the job.

Another 8:00am visit was still futile after two hours. The only thing I caught in the trap was the woman’s dog.

The woman and I had appointments to go to, so I decided to leave the traps armed since it was a quiet setting, and the woman would be back in a couple of hours.

We normally do not leave armed traps for long periods and never overnight, as it is very stressful for a trapped animal. Even after a few minutes in a trap, I have seen the bloodied paws and nose of a cat desperately trying to get out.

I returned home after three hours and called the woman. She still wasn’t home, so I rushed out to the ranch. There I found a kitten in the trap and gardeners mowing the lawn. A mower was about 10 feet from the kitten, and closing in. The terrified baby was huddled under the papers lining the cage.

I whisked it out of the yard and transferred it to the relative quiet of my car. When the woman pulled in a few minutes later, I told her how upset I was at what I had found. The woman thought I was needlessly upset saying that the kitten would get over it, and the less she seemed to care, the more I did. Suffice it to say, she asked met to leave the property and I complied.

The kitten is still showing signs of being traumatized after more than two weeks, while her two sisters are purring and friendly. Obviously they don’t “get over it” easily.

So I wonder…, can a person really care too much about the welfare of a frightened animal caught in a trap? And what of those who care so little?