‘Grown-Ups Killed My Kitty,’ Boy, 8, Claims In Heartbreaking Letter To Newspaper

Salt Lake City, Utah – An 8-year-old Utah boy wrote a letter to his local newspaper, telling the world that “grown-ups” had killed his cat, Toothless. The letter, which became popular overnight, began: “Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren’t supposed to.” The cat, who had run away from the family’s home, had been discovered at a local animal shelter, but workers failed to put a note on the animal’s cage. When the boy’s father arrived at the shelter to take the cat home, he was informed that the animal had accidentally been put down.

The boy, Rayden Sazama, was heartbroken and decided to write a letter to the local newspaper “to tell people about Toothless – that I loved him.” The letter appeared in The Herald Journal of Logan, Utah on Thursday. By Friday, it held the fourth-most comments on the paper’s website; the first three were articles regarding the presidential campaign. While comments ranged from rage at the shelter to criticism of the family for letting the animal outside, little Rayden just wanted the world to know about his cat, who he named after the dragon in Disney Pixar’s film “How To Train Your Dragon.” Rayden added that he wrote the letter so that people would know “that people shouldn’t lie.” Jason Sazama, the boy’s father, told The Associated Press that he’s “surprised how many people didn’t get the point of Rayden’s letter,” which the boy dictated to his grandfather: “It was about a boy sharing his love for his cat — and saying, ‘C’mon grown-ups.’ ”

Toothless, a fluffy, black cat, left the family’s home on September 28 and didn’t return that evening. By Sunday, Rayden and his younger brother, Devin, were going door to door, asking neighbors if they had seen the pet. Allegedly, one of the neighbors — who Rayden said, “don’t like cats and dogs” — had trapped the cat and called the police to take the animal to a shelter. When Rayden’s father went to the shelter to ask the whereabouts of the cat, the woman at the shelter told him that Toothless was indeed at the shelter but that Jason couldn’t take him home. First, he had to pay a fee at a local building, which had already closed. Jason went home hopeful, telling his boys that he had found Toothless and could go pick him up in the morning. When Jason returned in the morning to collect the cat, the woman informed him that she had forgotten to put a note on Toothless’ cage, letting the staff know that he was being claimed. Toothless had been put down that morning.

So little Rayden, with the help of his grandfather, wrote a letter detailing the story to his local newspaper to express his grief over his lost kitty. The editor noted that “Cache Humane Society Director Brenda Smith confirmed Rayden’s story that an animal shelter worker forgot to leave a note to halt euthanization of the Sazama’s cat.” The boy’s letter reads as follows:

To the editor:

My name is Rayden. I am 8 years old and I live in Logan. Yesterday grown-ups killed my kitty, my best friend, when they weren’t supposed to. Because I really don’t know how to write, my PaPa is writing down the things I think and say.

My kitty’s name is Toothless. When I got him I had just seen “How to Train a Dragon” at the movies. My kitty looked just like the dragon Toothless with big green eyes and the hair around his head. Toothless, my cat, has long fluffy hair and sleeps on my bed and loved to play with my brother and me. Toothless would let us carry him around all the time. He was our best friend.

Last week he didn’t come in at night. Sometimes he does that, but this time he didn’t come back. After two days my little brother Devin, who is 5, and I went to every house on our street and asked everyone if they had seen Toothless our cat. Everyone said no. We were worried and scared something was wrong.

On Wednesday after work my dad went to the animal shelter as it was closing. They didn’t want to let him in, but they did. He asked if there was a cat with long black fluffy hair there. They let my dad in to look at the cages, and there was Toothless! He was curled up laying in the back of the cage very scared. When my dad made his funny meow sound that he does to make him come home, Toothless jumped up and came to the screen and rubbed up against it and was so happy to see my dad, and he wasn’t scared anymore.

My dad wanted to take him home, but they said he had to go to another office building and pay a fee. The lady at the shelter said it would be OK and told him to come back the next day and we could get Toothless. When my dad came home and told my little brother and me he found Toothless we were so happy and we weren’t scarred or worried anymore.

My dad went back the next day to get our kitty and they told him they didn’t have any long-haired black cats. They only had a white fluffy cat. My dad waited a long time for the lady to come back and talk to him. The same lady that told my dad to come back the next day said she was sorry. She had forgotten to leave a note to tell the people my dad would be there for Toothless and they had just killed my cat that morning. She had just forgotten to write a note to save a member of my family. They killed him and I don’t know why.

My dad found out where he had been picked up and it was our neighbors down the street that don’t like cats and dogs. They had caught him in a trap and gave him to the police to take him away. When Devin and I knocked on their door and asked if they had seen Toothless they told us no, and that was a lie. My dad and mom tell me and Devin not to lie and that is right. I didn’t think big people lied because they are grown ups and know what is right. Now I don’t know what to do. My cat Toothless is dead; the people that killed him didn’t even give him to my dad so we could bury him. What do I do now?

Rayden Sazama

Readers: What do you think? Who is at fault here: the family, shelter, neighbors?