In July, two males – aged 17 and 18 – made friends with a neighbor’s cat by feeding him. Once the cat, named Tigger, trusted the two, they lured him into an apartment and threw a sheet over him:
They hit and kicked the cat, bashed it with a fire extinguisher, then drowned it in a toilet and threw it into a trash bin.
They bragged about the killing to a relative and laughed as they recounted their actions. Both were later charged with aggravated animal abuse. The 17 year old was committed to the Oregon Youth Authority until Jan. 17, 2012.
The 18 year old was put on 5 years probation, during which time he is prohibited from owning an animal. He must have a mental health evaluation and receive drug/alcohol treatment. In addition, the court ordered him to perform 120 hours of community service at – guess where – the animal shelter, natch. I guess the thinking must be something along the lines of you-killed-a-cat-now-you-can-be-rehabilitated-by-caring-for-shelter-pets. Gee I hope everything works out like it’s supposed to there.
I hope the shelter has extra personnel so that the cat killer is never left unsupervised with a pet during his 120 hours of community service. If it was my shelter, I wouldn’t settle for “general supervision” either. I’d want to do the standing over/watching like a hawk kind. And I’d feel a heck of a lot better about the whole thing if the man had undergone his drug rehab first – with hopefully some mental health treatment (not just an evaluation) as well.
Although this was the 18 year old’s first arrest as an adult, he has eight “referrals” on his juvenile record. Ya think the animal shelter work is going to be the thing that turns his life around? Or are you wondering if he’ll try his grooming-to-gain-trust technique on some other defenseless living thing and perhaps it won’t be a cat next time?
This is real nice, now the shelter can just have him kill the kitty’s and cat’s so they can save money!
no way would this idiot be left alone, he will probably beat the animals when no one is looking.
Why doesn’t this article name the shelter that will be involved? I live in Oregon, and would be happy to call and talk with the shelter authorities, just to underline to them the importance of strictly monitoring this offender. If anyone knows the shelter name, please post it. Thanks.
Sounds like the solution is to put all the shelter workers who kill cats on probation too. Maybe they couild move the probation office to animal control.
Why would anyone be surprised that in a society that justifies killing cats and dogs in public shelters that the courts would put any significance to the life of a cat?
If it were your shelter I think you would reject this person performing community service at the shelter.
Did you report on a shelter on the east coast which rejected a community service offender who harmed an animal?
Yes, I was thinking of that case too!
http://yesbiscuit.wordpress.com/2010/09/21/baltimore-sends-a-message-to-animal-abusers-we-are-idiots/
I know it’s common to put pet killers to work in shelters, but how can forced labor, cleaning out cages help them develop compassion. I would think it would have the opposite effect. These people are wired wrong to begin with.
The Judge should be thrown off the bench.
The shelter manager should explain himself or herself for allowing it.
There may be a good explanation. Perhaps Alley Cat Allies has a strong presence with military veterans to oversee his service who can teach him compassion.
If it were my local shelter I would ask why the manager would take this obligation and hope for a rational discussion.
I don’t see why the judge should get thrown off the bench when he was trying to follow what the letter of the law allowed. The other boy got sentenced to the juvenile facility until 2012. Hopefully they both will get good psychiatric care. Serial killers start on animals from what I have learned. I don’t think he’ll harm any shelter pets because then he’ll do serious jail time.
I hate cruelty to animals just like the rest of you do, but the judge levied what remedy he felt he had available to him. Some people don’t realize that the law is what binds the judge’s hands in most cases and will only allow him so much latitude in sentencing.
We should not jump to conclusions until we know everything, and one thing we do not know is if he has to do the rehab first (which I think is the correct thing to do here) or if he has to do the psychiatric evaluation first. I think he should do BOTH prior to being permitted to be near an animal.
Wherever he does the community service at, the best we can hope for is that cameras are installed, I think.
If I was in charge of the animal shelter I would refuse his entry to the shelter.
The shelter needs only caring, compassionate people working and volunteering there.
sick, they coming to get cats. and then they get punished by giving them cats in cages to be terrorised? what a solution!
TERRIBLE! THEY SHOUILD DO TO THESE PEOPLE WHAT THEY DID TO THOSE POOR HELPLESS CATS! I WOULD LOVE TO TEACH THESE PUNKS A LESSION!