Cat rescuer to fight trespassing charges

Linda Compton is hoping the charges lodged against her for trespassing in a supermarket Dumpster are thrown out.

The 63-year-old Lincoln woman was arrested June 13 after she was observed and photographed searching through a Dumpster behind Food Lion in Milton. She was falsely portrayed as a local restaurant employee searching for food for human consumption when the photo went viral on Facebook.

Compton says she was collecting bits of discarded lunch meat, expired food or whatever else she could get her hands on to feed several feral cat colonies in the area, just as she's done for the last eight to nine years.

She was charged with third-degree trespassing by Milton police and will appear in court Monday, July 16, where she plans to plead not guilty.

“I understand why a store doesn't want people going in there,” said Compton's husband, Willie. “Their concern is automatically if you take something out of there, eat it and get sick, you're going to sue. She in the past has gone in and talked to managers and, for the most part, once she explains what she's doing, they'll say to go ahead.”

The photo of Compton, where she is wearing gloves and standing on a milk crate outside of the Dumpster, was posted on Facebook with a message claiming she was the owner or an employee at the China Wok restaurant in Milton. Compton said she was contacted by Milton police a few days later and taken into custody at her home outside Lincoln.

Willie Compton said he doesn't believe the charges will hold up in court because a no trespassing sign was not posted on or near the Dumpster, and no one told her to stop. A Milton Police press release of the incident claims a Food Lion employee told her to get out of the Dumpster and provided police vehicle information.

“If you put something in your trash can and put it out to the curb to be thrown away, I can go to your curb and go through your trash,” Willie Compton said. “The same thing occurs here. It doesn't matter who owns it.”

Compton has searched for food for feral cats in refuse bins for nearly a decade throughout Sussex County because it helps defray the cost of feeding the cats out of her own pocket. While traveling for work with the Visiting Nurses Association, she said, she would often stop at supermarkets and other stores to feed feral cats that congregate behind them. She has since retired, but occasionally she still makes trips to feed the cats.

The food she pulls from the dumpsters is often expired or unusable bits and pieces from the deli, she said. In many cases, Compton said, she explains her intent to the store manager and many are supportive of her efforts. However, the turnover rate of store managers is high and, she said, she often catches a new manager unaware.

“Some of the managers are really nice,” she said. “Once they see me and what I'm doing, they know that I'm telling the truth. A manager always comes out with an employee to put the stuff in the trash and some of the managers tell [their employees] to give me the stuff instead of throwing it away.”

But feeding feral cats from local bins is only part of her work. She also provides food to more than 30 feral cats around her home and cares for newborn kittens in her guest house when the situation arises. She also take traps out to colonies in order to have them spayed or neutered. In the case of kittens, she tries to take them in quickly so they can be domesticated.

“In Sussex County, we're just overrun with them,” Willie Compton said. “SPCA has a no-kill policy, which is a good thing. You admire them for that, but also as a consequence, they have no room to take in more cats.”

If Compton is able to take in kittens within the first four to six weeks of their lives, she is able to care for them before sending them off to be adopted at a Pet Smart store. She is currently caring for 16 kittens, which hasn't been an easy task.

“In some cases they're not weened yet, so she ends up bottle feeding and hand-feeding them,” Willie Compton said. “In some cases, if you take them away from their mother they don't want to eat.”

Kittens born in the wild also tend to have medical issues, such as eye infections. While Compton receives some help with the cost of the veterinarian bills, she pays for a lot medicine and procedures out of her own pocket. She spent more than $750 last month. She also buys cat food to feed kittens rather than feed them food she's picked from the trash.

“I don't mind because it needs to be done,” Compton said.

She also receives some financial help from area feral cat and animal-control organizations. Willie Compton describes his wife as a soft-hearted woman who has a passion for caring for the many feral cats in the community.

“We feel like it's a community service,” he said. “It's very important to Linda.”

The Comptons' efforts haven't gone unnoticed. Compton said on several occasions she's found a box of unwanted kittens in her driveway because people know that they will be cared for. Ultimately, she said, it comes down to providing the feral population with a better life.

“When I go out there, I see that they are so thin and not healthy looking,” she said. “It's a hard life out there.”