Smock woman accused of rehoming her fathers dead cat

By Rod Gozinya

2/12/2020

State police responded to a dispute between Margaret Collins, 52 of Smock, and Janet Perkins, 37, of Brownsville on Monday.  Apparently Perkins responded to a Facebook post made by Collins, who was looking to “rehome” her now deceased father’s cat, Phoebe.  Perkins stated to police that she thought Phoebe was shy of her new home, but when she rubbed Phoebe’s belly and the cat didn’t try to rip her hand off the way cats do she knew something was wrong.  She rushed the lethargic cat to Geary Veterinary where Dr. Curtis Geary pronounced the cat dead on arrival, with a time of death dating back to the late 1980s. Neighbors to Collins claim that Phoebe died of a heart issue and was subsequently stuffed by Collins’s grieving father in 1987.

We contacted Julie Martinez at Fayette Friends of Animals to find out more about what rehoming is. Julie states, “Rehoming is when a poor decides to get a pet to post pictures with on social media, but soon realizes that they are a poor, so they try to find someone to take the animal due to their income or living arrangement.  Usually the person tries to charge a fee to the adopter claiming that they are trying to recoup vet expenses, but this money generally goes to buy meth.”