God, why can't we just stop treating Chris like he didn't and doesn't do anything wrong. It would've been fine if it was just him but it's the animals that he's treating like shit. I'll probably be called an A-log for this.
It's not treating him like he does no wrong, it's having perspective. Chris is absolutely wrong here. Like I said above, he doesn't recognize pets as sentient creatures that are dependent on him (or if he does, it's at a very superficial level), he views them as possessions. Chris is the exact kind of person who should not be in charge of animals.
But, in regard to the stray kittens, he probably didn't make their chances at life worse. Not better, either, probably. But it's a fact that stray/feral cats live hard lives and usually not for long. There's a whole genre of youtube channels and instagram accounts where people (now spread out to places like shithole Russia and Indonesia) search for and live-trap homeless cats to provide medical treatment and then either neuter and release or foster and adopt out, funded almost entirely by follower donations, because people are recognizing that the situation is otherwise dire for those cats.
So Chris didn't make their lives anymore miserable, just swapped it for a different kind of misery. Maybe improved their chances a bit with early human interaction and shelter from the elements, idk.
What's more pressing is that he exposed the animals that were already in his "care" to their diseases and now all are likely infected. Which is really fucked.
Also, these situations are painfully common and animal control officers and the like usually don't have the authority to do anything until after it's gotten really bad. There's not much there can be done except keep trying to goad him into taking them to a shelter. Getting hysterically angry only makes him more defensive end stubborn, and is frankly a waste of energy.
In regards to trying to get money from people for this shit, there's a big chance that there's some outside influence there, and Chris exploiting anything and everything for money isn't remotely new.