Seward Police alleged dumps declawed cat outside of town

Some residents in Seward are upset after a Seward Police Department officer apparently picked up a cat in town that was believed to be a stray and left it stranded on the outskirts of the city.

Michael Johnson, who adopted the cat named Neptune more than 10 years ago, spoke with the Journal Star about the situation involving his beloved companion.

Johnson had walked out to do some laundry last week when Neptune — a declawed indoor cat — managed to leave his apartment without Johnson noticing.

When he finally realized Neptune was missing, he began searching for him, unaware that a neighbor had taken his cat into their apartment, thinking it was a stray. 

Neptune did not have a collar on when he went missing.

After searching outside with no luck, Johnson decided to look at social media, hoping that someone might have found Neptune and posted about it. 

Cross Creek Animal Health Center in Staplehurst posted a picture of Neptune asking if the cat belonged to anyone in the community.

Within hours of the post, Johnson saw it and commented, claiming Neptune was his. Johnson spoke with the animal center, which did not have the cat but was able to post a picture of it, and they told him the Seward Police Department had taken Neptune after the neighbor who found him called the department about the cat.

Johnson lives in a six-unit building, and he does not believe the police knocked on any unit to ask if the cat belonged to anyone before taking him away.

Johnson had recently moved into his residence and neighbors were unfamiliar with Neptune.

But when he arrived to speak with police about his missing cat, an officer told him that they had let Neptune go outside of city limits.

Before doing so, police checked to see if Neptune had been chipped, but he had not.

“The officer told me he didn’t have time,” Johnson said when he asked why Neptune was not taken to a shelter.

Johnson said police took Neptune to South Second Street near the Big Blue River just outside of Seward before letting him go. 

“It’s just what they do,” he said, describing what the officer had told him.

The Seward Police Department was contacted multiple times but did not make anybody available to comment.

Johnson said he stayed a couple of nights at a campground near the Big Blue River in hopes of finding Neptune — or thinking maybe Neptune would find him — but he had no luck. 

Johnson said the police acted like they did nothing wrong and offered no apology for the situation.

Now, Johnson just wants to make sure the story is heard so that such a blunder does not lead to other house cats being mistaken for strays and left stranded.

“Just take them to an animal shelter,” he said.