Cat found after controversy involving SLO City Council candidate. Here’s what happened
A missing cat whose disappearance entangled a San Luis Obispo City Council candidate has been found safe and returned to its owner.
The three-legged Siamese mix, named Maulks, went missing in August, but his whereabouts were known to SLO City Council candidate James Papp, who believed the cat to be a stray that found a new home downtown.
Kelly Anderson said she was reunited with the cat on Wednesday afternoon, after downtown San Luis Obispo resident Ashley Ladin came upon the cat sitting on a fence Tuesday night by the Mission.
Ladin, a former Tribune intern who works at Hotel San Luis Obispo, had been handed a flyer by Anderson seeking to locate the pet.
“I’m more than thrilled to have Maulks back,” Anderson said. “I woke up in the middle of the night to Ashley’s message, and I wanted to confirm it was him. It was, and I’m supper happy.”
Ladin said she wasn’t aware of the drama surrounding the San Luis Obispo candidate, and simply wanted to give the cat back after finding Maulks at 11 p.m. following her shift at work.
“I thought it was him and waited for him to come down from the fence,” Ladin said. “I took him home and had him with me for the night. Kelly just came over to get him.”
What happened with SLO woman’s cat
After Anderson said Maulks went missing in late August, she posted multiple requests on the neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor, seeking help in finding him.
Having seen the cat in the neighborhood before, Papp responded in September that he’d observed the cat near a real estate office in late August but hadn’t seen him since.
Then on Friday, Papp commented on Nextdoor: “Found Maulks safe in a new home. More later.”
Papp said he learned the cat was at another neighbor’s house and spoke with the person about it.
But the person now caring for the pet became upset when Papp said that Anderson was looking for the pet, he said.
Papp said Maulks routinely roams the neighborhood, receiving food and attention from others, and he called the animal “a stray.”
“A cat that roams into other people’s yards is no longer anyone’s cat,” Papp told The Tribune. “I don’t want to get involved, so I informed Kelly that Maulks was safe.”
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Papp added that Anderson said she travels and he believes the cat is left to its own devices when she is on the road.
But Anderson offered a different account, telling The Tribune her cat is not a stray and she just wants him back. Anderson said she has tried “every which way” to get Papp to tell her who has the animal, and Papp didn’t budge.
“There’s false information being spread about me,” Anderson said. “I feed and bathe him. I have cat sitters when I’m gone. I love him and just want him back.”
Anderson said she filed a police report, but the help of the police ultimately wasn’t needed.
Social media blame
Like other candidates this season who have told The Tribune they’ve been on the receiving end of social media vitriol, Papp said he has taken heat over the story, one that’s far from the realm of normal election issues.
Papp feels it’s taking away from discussing more important community matters like homelessness, climate change, race issues, policing and city management.
“My problem with this is the trolling that has targeted me and even has reached my landlord,” Papp said. “They called her (Papp’s landlord) a monster. I have thick skin, but this is why people don’t run for office.”
Papp shared online attacks that included: “I just want to say what you’re doing to that woman’s cat is DISGUSTING. Cats are not meant to be indoor animals. I definitely will not be voting for you.”
Another post referencing Papp noted, “Would anyone want to vote for this disgusting old man who was fired (from his Cultural Heritage Committee role in July), doesn’t know boundaries and is stealing women’s cats and giving them to homes it doesn’t belong to?”
Yet another said: “You have stood and identified yourself as an ally to marginalized groups, but it is only via your identity as a cisgender, heterosexual male that you feel the audacity to determine whether Kelly should be Maulks’ home. I repeat, you are embodying the privilege you have criticized by taking it upon yourself to be the judge and jury of cat ownership.”
Papp said that he also has received text messages from five people, because his cell phone number is public, and four of them didn’t identify themselves.
“These things reveal people’s inner darkness, and social media offers them a platform to register complaints and make untrue statements without consequence,” Papp said.
For her part, Anderson said that she doesn’t care about Papp’s candidacy or involvement in SLO politics.
“I just want my cat back,” Anderson said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, she said, “Now we all can move on. I thank everyone who helped me with this.”
This story was originally published October 14, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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