UPDATE: Friday – 6/14/2013, 6:51pm ET
WASHINGTON – A 24-year-old woman from SE D.C. has been charged with misdemeanor theft for taking Callista the kitten.
Porsha Nicole Evans tells The Washington Post that she took the kitten because her 5-year-old daughter wanted another pet after she was forced to give up their dog.
Evans says she couldn’t afford the $85 adoption fee.
Christie Lynn Diller with the Washington Humane Society says it didn’t have to come to stealing.
“We do a number of affordable adoption promotions,” she says, adding they also have programs to help families cover the costs of keeping a pet.
Callista has since been adopted.
“We had a bit of a waiting list for her after the story broke,” Diller says.
EARLIER: Friday – 5/31/2013, 1:20 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON – The 8-week-old kitten stolen from a D.C. animal shelter earlier in the week was returned safely.
Callista was stolen on Sunday amid a busy adoption day at the Washington Humane Society location on New York Avenue. Five days after media reports circulated pictures of the missing kitten, D.C. police retrieved Callista from a home.
The case will be turned over to the courts.
EARLIER: Monday, 5/27/2013, 5:29pm ET
WASHINGTON – A D.C. animal shelter is asking for the public’s help to locate a missing kitten stolen from the shelter.
The Washington Humane Society says someone took a young, female kitten named Callista from the society’s adoption center on New York Avenue NE Sunday afternoon.
The society is offering a $1,000 reward for her safe return or for the identity of those responsible for her disappearance.
“It’s hard to believe someone would stoop so low and do this” said spokesman Scott Giacoppo in a written statement. “Our adoption process is so easy, it only takes a few minutes.”
The society says Callista needs to undergo medical procedures that are part of a typical animal adoption. The shelter vaccinates and spays or neuters animals before they can be adopted.
Anyone with information about Callista’s whereabouts is asked to call the society 202-576-6664.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter.
