Cat abuse is on the rise in North America and it is something we should all be very concerned about. Consider some of the more disturbing recent examples:
- Caleb Capen, age 22, of Albany, New York, is now facing a prison sentence for torturing and killing several cats. One of the cats he drowned just days after adopting the animal. (Source)
- Dallas Animal Services in Dallas, Texas, is under investigation after a cat escaped and got stuck in the wall. The temperatures in the shelter were high due to the hot weather and the cat frantically meowed for days, hoping someone would get her out. The cat died inside of the shelter wall and when the stench began to bother the shelter workers, they had the cat removed. Now an animal cruelty investigation of the shelter is underway. The rationale: If it was easy to remove the cat from inside the wall once she was dead, the shelter workers could have helped the cat when she was trying to get out of the wall. (Source)
- In Outagamie County, Wisconsin, a judge has dismissed evidence in an animal cruelty case involving a 42-year-old woman named Lorie Kuehl who allowed numerous cats to starve to death. Prosecutors wanted to use 20 cat skeletons found at the woman's house, but the judge dismissed the evidence because police searched the home without a warrant. Now it looks like Kuehl is going to get away with denying food and water to at least a dozen (probably many more) cats. (Source)
- An article on the wonderful website Change.org, there have been as many as 9 horrible cat mutilations in recent days in Sacramento, California. Families find the tortured and disfigured bodies of their beloved pets, who became the tragic victims of an insane stalker. Authorities in Sacramento are warning people not to let their cats outdoors. (Source)
- From the town of Wittmann, Arizona, comes a story of an 80-year-old woman who was living with 104 cats. When Phoenix authorities raided the home, they found many of the cats diseased to the point of being almost dead. She kept nine dead kittens in a freezer. As a UPI report noted: "Most remaining cats were so diseased - some without eyes, others with feline leukemia - that they were euthanized on the spot, the deputies said." The woman who owned the cats was clearly insane. She threatened to kill the officers who were raiding her home, saying "she enjoys when officers die." Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio says the woman probably won't spend a day in jail. He noted that she is "too old and frail to see the inside of a jail cell." (Source)
I could go on and on and on. But you get the picture from these illustrations, I'm sure. We have cases of cat abuse up here in Canada, too. And horrific acts of abuse will continue until the psychos, sadists, nutjobs and whackos who get off on torturing and murdering cats are severely punished. Right now, there is no real deterrent in North America to prevent cat abusers from taking out their wrath on innocent felines. That must change. These cases are sickening reminders that we have a long way to go when it comes to protecting the rights of animals.
The time has come to throw the book at these disturbed men and women. Make them pay for their crimes. Punish them with jail time. Create a nationwide Animal Abuse Registry that actually has fangs. Stick it to these monsters and stick it to them hard. They'll never suffer the way the poor animals suffered at their twisted hands. But that doesn't mean we should continue to let these abusers off the hook. Today they'll torture and kill animals. Tomorrow, there's a very good likelihood they'll move on to human beings.
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