An officer located the kids and talked with their parent. The incident report stated that the officer confiscated the cats from the residence. Lisa Reich (pictured right holding a different cat), owner of the injured cat said, “It was nothing like that. The kittens had never been outside.”
Lisa stated that the kittens were about seven weeks old and that they had started to eat on their own, due to the mother cat getting out of the house and taken to the Humane Society. “My neighbor was coming over with her child and her nephew, so I put the kittens in a room upstairs and shut the door.” Somehow one of the kids got in that room.
“My daughter came downstairs and told me that she saw the neighbors nephew, who is two or three years old, throw the kitten against a dresser. I saw that it was hurt and called my sister for a ride to the vet.”
Lisa pointed across the street to a lady, saying, “I think she’s the one that called the police.”
Lisa also said, “The next day, the same police officer stopped over and asked if I could go out to the Humane Society and pick up the kittens, if it’s reported that they are okay. I just don’t have the money to get them. He also said that since children were involved, that no charges would be pressed.” (See Lisa’s video and her account of the incident, at end of story.)
Tressa Petty, who was working at the Alley Cat at the time of the incident said that her daughter had come over to tell her that the kitten next door was crawling funny and they were still playing with it. “She showed me, by demonstrating how the kitten was moving.”
“The only reason I turned it in is because any person that abuses animals is not right in the head. Parents should teach their children right from wrong and abusing animals is definitely not right. In my eyes, I did the right thing.”
“I was carrying the kitten back over to where my daughter was, not giving a thought of what I was going to do next, just knowing I needed to get it away from there. That’s when the police car came around the corner.”
“The police officer had a kennel to put it in, but nothing in it to secure the kitten from moving. I was worried because whenever it moved, I could feel another bone breaking. A kid could not have done this by throwing it. It’s front leg was broken too.”
Jeani showed me the kitten she got from Lisa, two weeks prior to this incident. “Lucky” was from the same litter, “But Lucky is fed, healthy and happy. He’s been dewormed and his ears are clean. They were black when I got him. He’s the size that all of them should be, but he’s a lot bigger.”
“I realize that Lisa don’t have a lot of money, but they weren’t being fed. I can recognize the cry of hunger from my experience as a Vet’s Assistant. You can go to the food bank and get dry milk, anything to feed them to keep them alive. Being poor is no excuse not to keep your animals fed.” (See video for more of Jeani’s account of the incident.)
We made an attempt to see the kittens at the Animal Shelter. We were told that they couldn’t tell us anything or show us the kittens, since the case was still open.
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