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Kearns man suspected
of torturing the animals
By Wendy Leonard
and Pat Reavy
Deseret Morning News
A man investigators believe has
been collecting free kittens
through newspaper classifieds for
the purpose of torturing them is
being investigated by Salt Lake
County Animal Services.
The man was charged with two
counts of animal abuse and one
count of abandonment, all misde-
meanors, in June. He is scheduled
to be arraigned on those charges
Oct. 17. Now, investigators are
looking at other possible abuse
cases. Another injured kitten was
brought to their attention just
last week.
The purpose of the abuse
appears to be to keep in con-
tact with a former girlfriend,
Animal Services spokes
woman Temma Martin said.
Investigators believe the
man has adopted a total of
seven or eight kittens over
the past few months. Nearly
all of them have suffered
some type of "accident."
After each incident, the man
called the former girlfriend
so she would come over and
help with the injured animal.
"Nobody gets that many
kittens and has that many
accidents," Martin said.
Some of those alleged acci-
dents included a kitten with
a broken front leg and
another with a broken, and
possibly burned, tail and
burnt ears. After that kitten
was brought to the shelter,
Animal Services was forced
to amputate part of the tail
because of the damage, Mar-
tin said.
In one case, the man
claimed a cat was inside
some rolled up carpet that he
accidentally stepped on, Mar-
tin said. In another, the man
claimed he found the kitten
with burnt ears, again after
being in rolled up carpet, she
said. In at least one case he
blamed neighbor children
for taking his kittens, Martin
said.
Investigators were alerted
to the suspected abuse when
the former girlfriend brought
two kittens to them. Of the
seven or eight kittens the
man has taken in, the former
girlfriend said some of them
have simply disappeared.
"She doesn't even know
what happened to them. She
thinks they were killed,"
Martin said.
Animal Services did not
want to release the name of
the Kearns man for fear he
might retaliate against the
former girlfriend, Martin said
there is a history of domestic
abuse between the couple
that has been documented by
reports from the sheriff's
office. His name, however
will become public record at
the time of his arraignment
on the charges.
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Martin said her office
wants to get the word out to
residents, partly to warn
against giving kittens away
for free.
"This is both a sick case of
animal abuse and a warning
to the community about giv-
ing away unwanted baby ani-
mals," she said.
Instead of giving them
away to unfamiliar people,
she said, entrusting the ani-
mals to a shelter - where
they can be humanely cared
for is a better option.
The Newspaper Agency
Corp. - which handles clas-
sified advertising for the
Desert Morning News and
The Salt Lake Tribune - has
made it a policy for a number
of years to not accept adver-
tisements for free pets
because of Humane Society
concerns.
Of the two kittens that the
former girlfriend brought to
the shelter in JUne, one had
since been adopted and the
other has regained its health
and is available for adoption
at the shelter. The third kit-
ten is still being cared for at
the shelter.
"It is concerning because
the link between animal
abuse and violence is huge
Martin said.
A 1997 American Humane
Association survey of the 50
largest shelters for battered
women in the United States
reported that 85 percent of
the women and 63 percent of
the children who enter those
shelters mention incidents of
pet abuse in the family.
"It seems that he was using
the kittens to keep her
around," Martin said of the
local case. "She feels sorry
for them and he uses that and
it becomes part of the vicious
cycle."
Utah is one of only a few
states without a felony ani-
mal cruelty statute, even for
aggravated animal abuse.
Animal abuse in Utah is a
class B misdemeanor, usually
punishable by a $1,000 fine
and up to six month in jail.
Another local man, Marc
Vincent, pleaded guilty in
Salt Lake City's 3rd District
Court last month to one count
of aggravated animal cruelty
after putting his wife's dog in
a 200-degree oven for about
five minutes after cornering
it with a leaf blower. He is
scheduled to be sentenced
Nov. 6. |
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