This morning when I left home, I saw a cat that had probably been hit by a car, lying in the middle of the street in front of my house. It was definitely dead. I recognized this cat as an outdoor cat that I often saw around the neighborhood, and it had regularly used my porch as a shady spot to relax.

I looked for a collar and while there was a collar lying beside the cat, there was no tag. I don't know whether the cat never had a tag or whether somebody had already removed it. I don't know which house the cat calls home, either.

I went home at lunch and the cat was still there. I flipped through the phone book looking for somebody to call, and called the Williamson County Humane Society. I said I was in Round Rock so they gave me the Round Rock Animal Control number instead. I called and left a message there (it's actually a branch of the city police department). A few minutes later they called me back, but apparently where I live is not within the jurisdiction of the Round Rock police department, so they couldn't directly help me. They gave me the number of the Williamson County animal control department.

I called Williamson County, and after being on hold for five minutes found that they had given me the regular dispatch number. I explained that there was a dead cat in front of my street and I was trying to reach animal control. The dispatcher told me that while they do have an animal control department, it only controls animals that aren't dead. For dead animal removal, the Roads and Bridges department will remove large animals (deer etc) that are blocking a roadway, but not anything as small as a cat.

Everybody I talked to was sympathetic to the problem, but bureaucracy doesn't let any of them do anything about it. I hope the owner finds their cat soon.