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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289880,00.html
Teen California Girls Charged With Animal Cruelty as Burned Cat Clings to
Life
Thursday, July 19, 2007
COTATI, Calif. - A 3-month-old cat is clinging to life at a Sonoma County
animal hospital after having been set on fire by two teenage girls who now
face charges of animal cruelty.
The kitten, named Adam by hospital staff, has undergone two surgeries and
had its tail and the tips of its ears amputated. The skin on its back was
burned off in the attack, leaving nothing but raw tissue.
"The degree of injury is greater than our normal level of trauma that we
care for," said Katheryn Hinkle, the head veterinarian and owner of the
Animal Hospital of Cotati. "He's our most critical patient, and we're
watching him constantly."
The cat, one of several feral felines trapped for spaying and neutering, was
in a cage outside an apartment in Santa Rosa when two 15-year-old girls
allegedly poured flammable liquid on the animal and set it on fire last
month.
An 11-year-old boy and his friend saw the smoke and heard the cat, then
eight weeks old, shrieking while the girls laughed. The girls, whose names
have not been released, were charged with cruelty to animals in Sonoma
County Juvenile Court last week.
With so much exposed skin, the cat is vulnerable to infection, Hinkle said.
It cannot leave its cage and must be handled only with gloves. It will need
several more surgeries to cover the wound on its back with skin.
The kitten was among six wild litter mates and a male cat captured by a
trapper on a farm. The plan was to have the cats spayed and neutered and
then released back to the farm. The cages with the kittens were stolen and
only Adam has been found.
According to Hinkle, the bill to keep the kitten alive could run between
$20,000 and $30,000 even though the vet performing its surgeries has donated
her services. The community's concern for the cat has prompted anger in some
Sonoma County residents, who complain that the slaying of a 16-year-old boy
in the same neighborhood last year did not receive as much attention.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289880,00.html
Teen California Girls Charged With Animal Cruelty as Burned Cat Clings to
Life
Thursday, July 19, 2007
COTATI, Calif. - A 3-month-old cat is clinging to life at a Sonoma County
animal hospital after having been set on fire by two teenage girls who now
face charges of animal cruelty.
The kitten, named Adam by hospital staff, has undergone two surgeries and
had its tail and the tips of its ears amputated. The skin on its back was
burned off in the attack, leaving nothing but raw tissue.
"The degree of injury is greater than our normal level of trauma that we
care for," said Katheryn Hinkle, the head veterinarian and owner of the
Animal Hospital of Cotati. "He's our most critical patient, and we're
watching him constantly."
The cat, one of several feral felines trapped for spaying and neutering, was
in a cage outside an apartment in Santa Rosa when two 15-year-old girls
allegedly poured flammable liquid on the animal and set it on fire last
month.
An 11-year-old boy and his friend saw the smoke and heard the cat, then
eight weeks old, shrieking while the girls laughed. The girls, whose names
have not been released, were charged with cruelty to animals in Sonoma
County Juvenile Court last week.
With so much exposed skin, the cat is vulnerable to infection, Hinkle said.
It cannot leave its cage and must be handled only with gloves. It will need
several more surgeries to cover the wound on its back with skin.
The kitten was among six wild litter mates and a male cat captured by a
trapper on a farm. The plan was to have the cats spayed and neutered and
then released back to the farm. The cages with the kittens were stolen and
only Adam has been found.
According to Hinkle, the bill to keep the kitten alive could run between
$20,000 and $30,000 even though the vet performing its surgeries has donated
her services. The community's concern for the cat has prompted anger in some
Sonoma County residents, who complain that the slaying of a 16-year-old boy
in the same neighborhood last year did not receive as much attention.
