April 8, 2012, at 11:36 am
Confused by the title? Let me explain. According to several Chicago news stations, when animal lover Georgia Lee Dvorak died on December 24th at the age of 76, she left behind her a will (drawn up 24 years ago) which ordered for most of her estate, valued at $1.4 million, to be divided out among anti-cruelty organizations like the Humane Society and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, but also included a clause ordering any cats she owned at the time of her death to be euthanized “in a painless, peaceful manner”, regardless of their health.
The order meant a death sentence for Dvorak’s only cat at the time of her passing, 11-year-old Boots, who’s a perfectly healthy black female cat. The trust officers at Fifth Third Bank, who were managing her estate, couldn’t cope with euthanizing boots and decided to fight for her. They asked a Cook County judge to invalidate that portion of the will, citing that similar legal actions went down in Vermont and Pennsylvania in the past, and violated public policy.
Neighbors who have been taking care for Boots since Dvorak’s death, say that Dvorak rescued Boots 18 months before she passed away, from owners who had mistreated the animal. Judge Susan Coleman ruled in favor of Boots, and she has been placed at Cats are Purrsons Too, a no-kill shelter that has agreed to care for the cat for the rest of her life in exchange for a $2,000 endowment from Dvorak’s estate. And all is right with the world 
