Their address:

Beverly Geisler
President, Palmer Paints
1291 Rochester Rd
Troy, MI , 48083-2879

Here is the story:

In 2002, the industrial area in which Palmer Paints resides had 100 starving cats who were being fed by local businessmen, homeowners, renters, roach coach employees, and postal employees at many locations within the area. It distressed the businessmen to see so many starving cats and to constantly have to pick dead cats up off the road. Cats also tried to find shelter in local businesses because they had none. This was the situation when a concerned citizen came upon the scene and took responsibility for correcting the problem. She checked with Troy animal Control and was told that large numbers of cats had been living in this industrial area for over 20 years.

She trapped, spay/neutered, and returned 140 cats, for some of the cats had kittens during the 6 months it took to trap all the cats. She has records of all these spay/neuters, most of which were done by the vet students at Michigan State University. Each fixed cat had a tip taken off its ear to mark it as already fixed. She adopted out 60 cats, drastically lowering the numbers of cats in this 1/4 square mile area. She had shingled, tiled, insulated wooden shelters built at a cost of $120 per shelter, which cost $1,080 for the 9 shelters on the scrub land behind Combermere Industrial Complex, one of the many locations where the cats had lived for years. The shelters were placed with permission from the long-time renter at Unit F, who interceded with the owner and gave permission. There is now some dispute over who owns the land as Palmer Paints claims it is their land. Also placed were 3 feeding stations at $35 apiece, and she helped feed the cats since people were not coming in to feed cats during weekends and holidays.

Many local businessmen thanked this person for her humanitarian effort as they no longer had to feel bad about starving cats or scrape dead cats off the road. They said they hardly even saw cats anymore. The cats also stopped trying to get into local businesses when they had shelters of their own. Once the cats stopped having kittens, the colony started dwindling in size because outdoor cats only live about 7 years. (Most here die of mouth cancer, not cars or whatever else you may think). Only 20 cats remain, 10 of which lived in the shelters on this scrub land. Every year the caregiver trapped and adopted out newcomer cats. There was not one single cat added to that colony as a result of this humanitarian person. Her solution was working and was, in fact, the only humane and feasible way to handle the problem. She was never asked to remove these shelters and the manager at Combermere Industrial Complex knew how to get ahold of her. In fact, he had her phone number and talked to her frequently. Palmer Paints was set so far back, about 1/4 mile, that it faced on another road altogether, and never used the back 2/3 of it's huge parking lot, so the caregiver never had any contact with them.

Palmer Paints had an animal get inside one of their trucks and defecate on some of their product which had to be destroyed. They did not say how an animal managed to get inside their truck, whether their truck was so poorly maintained as to have a big rust hole, or whether they left the cargo area doors open. They cannot prove it was a cat (seems doubtful) or rone of these cats. (A nearby apartment renter has a cat missing, for instance). however they decided to detroy the cat shelters on the scrub land inbetween the two businesses, whose ownership is in question. They phoned the owner of Combermere Industrial Complex and asked if they could do this and the owner did not want to be involved so he said ok. Palmer Paints claims that part of Combermere Industrial Complex's parking lot actually resides on their property, that it was paved incorrectly, which would be a reason that that business would not want to make waves. The owner of the shelters was never asked to remove them. Instead Palmer Paints summarily destroyed the cat shelters in record cold weather when wind chills reached 30 below.

Destroying over a thousand dollars worth of shelters in sub-zero weather is not only unconscionable, but it creates a problem. These cats did not die, they are just miserable, and they will make the local businesses miserable. They will seek shelter inside businesses. They will panhandle and become more visible. They will stay and eke out a life in the territory they know. Despite that some cats roam, 90% of them never leave the territory they are familiar with. Cats certainly do not explore new possibilities in the winter.

If the caregiver left the area, the colony would again increase in size because there would be no one spay/neutering and adopting out the non-feral cats coming from the surrounding homes and apartments. This past year the caregiver trapped 2 new cats on the property, one a female in heat, had them spay/neutered, and adopted them out. Had she not, the female would have had 3 litters of 6 kittens in this past year alone, and each of them would have started having kittens when 6 months old, resulting within a year's time, in 72 more cats in the area.

It should be noted that one area businessman has been offering to pay this caregiver for her trap, neuter, return services. In fact, her services are in great demand, such that her time is very limited.

All this was explained to Palmer Paints, but Ms. Beverly Geisler, President of Palmer Paints, stated they have no intention of paying restitution, nor of allowing cat shelters to be replaced. New shelters were placed, but the cats did not find them because these are huge industrial properties so the new shelters were placed quite some distance away, and cats do not explore in the winter.
The cats are crying in misery.

Palmer Paints makes craft paints sold under the names of Palmer Paints, Creative Touch, and Prism. People that buy these paints aare children and families who would not support the cruel and inhumane actions of Palmer Paints. Please send Palmer Paints a letter to let them know that people are paying attention to how they treat animals. There is no excuse for animal cruelty.

Thank you.

P.S. If you want a condensed text of what you could say, here is a possibility although personally worded letters would be best:

Dear Ms. Guesler,

I am an animal lover and I recently learned of some disturbing actions of Palmer Paints a.k.a. Creative Touch a.k.a. Prism. On February 1, 2007, Palmer Paints destroyed cat sheletsr on the scrub land behind their property (or perhaps on their property) with no regard for the cruelty of turning helpless cats out into 30 degree below wind chills, leaving them in fear of their lives and at risk of having their ears and tails freeze off. This is not only cruel, it is pointless, as without appropriate shelter, the cats will seek shelter in inappropriate places, anywhere they can. I respectfully ask that you grant permission that shelters be reinstated on the property as the cats are all spay/neutered and their proper management is not only humane but there is extensive proof that it has greatly reduced their numbers. I understand that Palmer Paints was unaware that the colony was spay/neutered and greatly reduced in size due to proper management, however the world is watching to see whether or not Palmer Paints now does the humane thing to restore shelter to the cats whose shelters it destroyed in the dead of winter.

Sincerely,
<your name>

Thank you everyone! The more letters, the more impact. Palmer Paints does not believe people care about cats. Let's show them otherwise!