Three-Legged Cat Helps Eases Tensions at Texas Police Department

If there's one place other than hospitals that people need a therapy animal, it's a police precinct. "I can have people walking into this office upset about something, and the cat will jump up on their lap, and their faces just change," Police Chief Danny Sullins told the Houston Chronicle. "He's therapeutic."

The cat is Jade, a gray three-legged feline who has been sitting pretty at the Lumberton Police Department for 8 years. Jade came to reside in the department after a woman brought him and his mangled front right leg in hoping that the then-chief would have the cat euthanized. The chief refused due to the expense and because the woman wasn't from Lumberton, but as she left, Jade escaped and hide inside her car engine. "So then Chief had to go in and pop the hood and get him out," department secretary Linda Hunter told the Chronicle. And, as they say, the rest is history.

The department got his partial front leg amputated and since then, Jade has become a fixture of the office. Like most cats, Jade's curiosity has gotten him in trouble, like when he got locked in the supply closet for the night because no one knew he had snuck in, but for the most part, the three-legged feline is a calming presence for both visitors and officers. "The guys all know him and he goes back and visits with them," Sullins told the Houston Chronicle. "He does help with the stress around here."