Broward Man Offers $20,000 Reward for Info About Missing Cats

One of Broward's most notable animal lovers says seven of his cats were snatched off his property. He is offering a $20,000 reward for their return.

Steve Rosen is a retired dentist and businessman from Davie. He made national news in 2002, when 500 black-tailed jackrabbits were living in the woods near Miami International Airport when it was building a new runway. The airport was going to have the rabbits killed, but Rosen intervened, paying for them all to go to sanctuaries. 

But now he is facing a new problem: a possible cat abductor. "Imagine your child disappeared and you can't find them," says Rosen. He claims that a cat was first stolen off a commercial property of his in Davie in March 2015 and that in the following months, the suspects would come back and grab more cats, one by one, through February 2016.

Rosen, 64, has endured sleepless nights and spent a small fortune in the search for his beloved pets. After the first incident last year, he installed security cameras worth nearly $10,000 on his property. 

"We had a couple of suspect cars we tried to track down," he says. "But the cameras didn't pick up the tags. I hired private investigators, and they found nothing. I have no idea who took them. Maybe cat hoarders. I don't know."

Also, last year, he posted a reward for $2,500 and then upped it to $3,500. He filed a police rep ort, but no luck. He sent 200 local veterinarians photos of the missing cats, but nothing came of that effort. The cats are friendly and microchipped and wore collars with radio tracking devices, though those work only up to a certain range, he says.

Last weekend, he placed a full-page ad in the Sun-Sentinel announcing a $20,000 reward. He says he has received calls from people who offered to help find the cats but no solid leads. 
"I'm counting on greed to find my cats," he says. "That's why I've put up the reward. Someone knows where they are, and someone knows who took them."

Rosen cares for roughly 30 rescued cats, a parrot, and a rooster. In 2002, he began taking in cats who would come across his property, which, of course, attracted more cats. "The cats found me; I didn't find them," he says. In his commercial warehouse space, he built an indoor facility for the rescues to dwell. 

Rosen, a former dentist, also owned a skin-care company, Tend Skin, which reportedly rung up $2.5 million to $5 million in sales a year. In 2002, when he saved the 500 rabbits, he appeared on CNN, NBC, and Fox and was also profiled in New Times.

"Of all my rescue friends, I don't know anyone this has happened to," Rosen says.

If you have any information, contact Steve Rosen at 954-309-4845.