Cats placed in hiding as owner’s family disputes $20,000 left to them in will

• Monique Hore
• Herald Sun
• September 13, 2015 

A deceased Melbourne woman left $20,000 in her will to care for her cats.
 

A CATFIGHT over a lucrative Melbourne estate has seen a cluster of felines put in “witness protection” from the will’s other beneficiaries. 

The cats’ deceased owner bequeathed $20,000 in her will to go towards the care of her beloved pets.
But the Herald Sun understands resentful members of the dead woman’s family feel the money should go to them rather than be swallowed up by the cats.

More feline-friendly members of the family, fearing the resentful beneficiaries could attempt to eliminate the cats, have moved them to a secret Victorian location to protect them from a possible hit.
If the cats were killed or stolen the money would then go to the family members, a person who knows the case told the Herald Sun.

“That’s how crazy it is. Someone pointed out to me the other day that it is like witness protection — but for cats,” she said.

“I’ve been told the cats have adapted well to their new way of life.

“It is sad that for six months they are going to pretty much be caged up but it is in their best interest.
“They are in the safest place they can be while they are being squabbled over.”

The protection house allows for visitation, with the family members who, desperate to keep the cats alive, often check in on their welfare.

It is not the first time those hiding the cats have acted as a feline safe house.

Late last year a jilted girlfriend stole her boyfriend’s dog and for revenge the man stole her cat and stashed it at the property for six weeks.

He changed the cat’s name and microchip so that it could not be traced.

The man only revealed he had catnapped the beloved pet after he considered it safe to take it home.

“He is going to keep it and that is his revenge,” a source said.

“He stole her cat because she stole his dog.

“He knew a dodgy vet nurse that changed the microchip number so that she will never be able to find this cat.

“These animals are being treated as ammunition.”

source