As of: February 16, 2024, 8:30 a.m
By: Christof Schnürer
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Bettina Brandner (with cat Sissi) has received a lot of popularity in the past few days.
© Peter Kornatz
The waves rose dramatically when a mother cat from Mittenwald expressed her disappointment at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen animal shelter.
Since then, there has been a lot of criticism of the facility on social media.
Completely wrong, as three employees think.
Mittenwald
- Ten days have passed since Bettina Brandner (76) complained in the Tagblatt about not having gotten a cat in the Garmisch-Partenkirchen animal shelter - not least with reference to her age.
“It’s sensational how many people have asked me about it.” The Mittenwald native received a lot of support.
It is definitely not an isolated case, says Brandner.
“I’m sure 20 to 30 people will tell me the same thing.”
So while a widow under the Karwendel has given herself some space and doesn't regret it, there is a certain level of helplessness at the Garmisch-Partenkirchen animal shelter.
“We no longer understand the world that Ms. Brandner turned to the newspaper after almost three years and untruthfully claimed that she didn't get a cat from us because she was 'too old',” said a jointly written statement Anna Sloof, Vroni Bartl and Eva Ostermann.
The three identify themselves as the animal keepers “who had to do with Ms. Brandner.”
In the letter to the Tagblatt, the three in particular and the Schmalenau facility in general feel that they have been unfairly pilloried.
"Since the article appeared on Facebook, the animal shelter has been exposed to a real 'shitstorm' with over 2,500 comments that are now against all animal shelters." Why?
“We animal keepers and our colleagues work 365 days a year with great dedication and expertise, never look at the clock and even take hand-raised animals home with us,” the letter continues.
“We are stunned by the hate speech and insults and would like to thank the many animal lovers from whom we have received a lot of encouragement in the last few days.”
Sloof, Bartl and Ostermann comment on the specific Brandner case as follows: They claim to have spoken on the phone with the single woman from Mittenwald for “months” in 2021.
“She also came to the animal shelter several times.” Bettina Brandner is said to have been interested in the kitten Enya there.
“Since she was very shy and was supposed to be placed with her sister Elisa - which is what happened - we advised Ms. Brandner against it.” What the pensioner vehemently denies.
“I wasn’t interested in baby animals, so my hat really goes off to you!”
That was very bitter for us.
Tessy Lödermann
Then the zookeepers reported about the kittens Tiffi and Talia, both of whom are visually impaired and therefore could only live in apartments.
“We then advised Ms. Brandner in detail to choose a slightly older, nice and traffic-experienced cat that would be suitable for the outdoors in the middle of Mittenwald and introduced her to corresponding cats that she did not want.” The animal shelter trio comes to the rescue The conclusion: “It was never, as Ms. Brandner claimed, that she was 'too old' and therefore wouldn't get a cat.
We are trained animal keepers, know our animals, their character and make sure that animal and human fit together when rehoming them.”
A total of 357 cats were rehomed in 2023 and 47 this year.
The mass of criticism hit the employees at the animal shelter to the core.
“That was very bitter for us,” says Tessy Lödermann, chairwoman of the animal protection association for the Garmisch-Partenkirchen district.
“Because such agitation does not leave us unscathed.”
Of course, Bettina Brandner also finds the sometimes cross-border comments on the Internet unspeakable.
She knows what work is being done in Schmalenau.
“I have a lot of respect for it.” But in her specific case, the Mittenwald resident simply sees “discrimination against one person”.
And she doesn't budge an inch from that.