Cats that had lived around a Florida Home Depot for years have disappeared, and the rescue group that helped care for them says it still does not know where they were taken.
Ranch Rescue of Lake City has spent days publicly pressing Home Depot for answers after members of a managed cat colony vanished from the retailer’s Lake City property. The group says the cats had been trapped, sterilized, vaccinated and returned to the property as part of an established care program.
The dispute has since moved beyond social media. Protesters gathered outside the store, the Lake City Humane Society tried to determine what happened to the animals, and Ranch Rescue announced that legal representation had been obtained for the effort to account for them.
Home Depot has now addressed how it handles animal relocations. A company spokesperson told WCJB that the retailer works with a third-party contractor that uses licensed and bonded specialists to capture and relocate animals.
That response has not resolved the central issue for the rescue. In its latest Facebook update, Ranch Rescue said it still had no answers from Home Depot about what happened to the Lake City cats.
Still No Answers
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The rescue also said the Lake City Humane Society had sought information about the cats without getting the answers it wanted.
That tracks with an interview WCJB conducted with Humane Society Executive Director Elizabeth Halloran. Halloran said her shelter did not receive cats from the Home Depot and was already closed to cat intake because its cattery was over capacity.
Halloran said she went to the Home Depot hoping to speak with its store manager but was unable to do so. She also said she contacted the company’s corporate office seeking information.
Ranch Rescue’s latest post went further, outlining what it says are the respective animal-control responsibilities of the city and county and noting an upcoming change in local cat services. Those jurisdiction and contract details remain the rescue’s characterization and have not been independently established by GH.
A Colony Changes
The cats had been around the Lake City store for roughly six years, according to interviews conducted by News4JAX.
Ranch Rescue founder Laura Rister told the station that a caregiver had been feeding the colony under an arrangement with previous store management.
Rister said the situation changed under new management. She told News4JAX that the caregiver later encountered two dead cats near the feeding area and was warned not to return to the property. According to Rister’s account, she was also told that cats were being trapped and taken to a secure facility.
The rescue says it was never told where that facility was.
“Where did the cats go?” Rister asked during the station’s interview.
News4JAX also reported that Ranch Rescue believed three cats might still have been on the property. The station drove around the perimeter of the store looking for them but reported finding no sign of the animals during that visit.
Lawyers Get Involved
Three days before its latest update, Ranch Rescue announced that it had obtained legal representation in connection with the missing cats.
The group said the effort is focused on getting answers about what happened and accounting for the animals. It did not identify the attorney or describe any lawsuit or other court action in the material provided to GH.
The distinction matters: obtaining a lawyer does not itself mean litigation has been filed.
Meanwhile, Home Depot’s statement to WCJB describes its general relocation process but does not identify the contractor involved in Lake City, state where these particular cats were taken or establish their current condition.
Ranch Rescue’s Friday update said it was still seeking those answers.