Posted on 02/28/2005 11:01:51 AM PST by Cagey
GILLESPIE -- Authorities admit they had to resort to a Taser to subdue a cat in a manner that is making fur fly around town.
Gillespie Police Chief Rick Hearn said Thursday morning that a cat fight ended earlier this month with one cat being Tasered then shot to death by police officers.
Hearn, who said his officers’ response was appropriate given the circumstances, said the incident began at 9:12 p.m. Feb. 9 when dispatch notified his son, part-time Gillespie police officer Rob Hearn, of a cat fight at the home of George Mull.
Rob Hearn called the Mull house and was told that two cats were fighting in the Mull garage and that one appeared badly hurt. When Hearn, joined by full-time officer Kevin Raymer, went to the house, Mull told them one cat had gone up into the rafters of the garage. The cat had lost an eye and was badly mangled, Mull told police.
Police said the officers attempted to use pepper spray to get the cat down, and when that failed, they called animal control officer Jessica Spangler and told her to bring her harness pole.
The officers attempted to net the cat with the harness pole, and when that failed, used a Taser gun on the animal.
"Once the animal was brought down, Jessica told the officers that the cat was so severely injured that she ordered the officers to shoot the cat. For safety reasons, the officers took the cat outside the city limits and shot it," Chief Hearn said.
A Taser is an electronic stun device. The electricity disrupts the sensor nervous system and the motor nervous system that carries commands from the brain to muscles to control movement. The handheld device projects two darts with the potential charge of thousands of volts of electricity, which can last five seconds. The capability of the instrument has drawn widespread praise and criticism. About 100 deaths have been linked to Taser use since 2000, according to published reports.
One Gillespie resident who heard of the incident was appalled that the officers used a Taser on a small animal and that the animal control officer had ordered the animal shot rather than taken to a veterinarian for either medical treatment or humane euthanasia.
"All of this concerns me greatly," the resident told the Telegraph in a letter. "I would hope that if my cat or dogs ever got out, that animal control and Gillespie’s officers would not kill it inhumanely. Instead, I hope they would capture it and allow me the allotted time to retrieve it."
The Illinois Humane Care for Animals Act does allow, in certain circumstances, animal control personnel, animal shelter employee or law enforcement agencies to humanely kill an animal that is severely injured, diseased or suffering, in a manner that affords a painless death, said Ledy Van Kavage, senior director of legislative services for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. VanKavage said she understood the position the police took, given the cat’s condition.
Chief Hearn said he feels his officers responded appropriately given the situation and had only used the Taser when all other efforts had failed. He said the report does not mention where the second cat went or what the officers did with the dead cat, which had no city tags for identification.
"I am assuming the officers buried the cat," Hearn said. "It was unfortunate that the cat was injured so badly that Jessica felt it had no chance of surviving its injuries. We do have leash laws in Gillespie, and I hope pet owners will make sure their pets have city tags and that their pets are kept contained or on a leash so incidents like these won’t happen."
throwing water on fighting cats usually works....
Well gee, if it was that severely injured it sounds shooting it was the humane thing to
That musta been a helluva cat fight.
dog fights too.
Wait.
They pepper-sprayed it.
Then Tasered it.
Then took it out of town and SHOT it?
What the Hell...?
This does not seem normal.
Wonder how the kitties like being on the other end of the ZOT?
I think shooting the injured cat was a humane way of ending its torment.
disturbing kitty ping
If an animal is severely injured and in pain, shooting it on the spot is a lot more humane than delaying its demise by transporting it to a vet for a lethal injection.
For safety reasons, the officers took the cat outside the city limits and shot it
Unfortunately, this demonstration of hoplophobia ensured that the shooting was no more humane than the trip to the vet for an injection would have been.
"This does not seem normal.
"
Cat fights can be very vicious and some cats won't give up until the other cat stops moving.
I've found, though, that a five-gallon bucket of cold water dumped on the pair of fighting cats generally ends the fight immediately.
i think that if they did all that to my thug cat, Alpo, it would only make him mad.
Alpo thrashes other cats, squerrils, dogs, raccoons, small children, large children and adults. He plays chicken with cars and wins.
I wonder if the taser took out the eye?
after reading the article, I tend to agree - the cat was severely injured, and the officers couldn't get it down. They tasered it so they could examine it, and after discovering that it's injuries were that bad, they put it out of its' misery.
that said I do wonder why if they were able to drive it to a remote area, why couldn't they drive it to the vet for a more humane end?
Your cat sounds like one my mother-in-law had.
Big male tiger---would disappear for a week or so,come home,eat,sleep for 24 hours(behind the old stove),and off he'd go again.
He always came home with some type of injury but survived quite a few years.
Anyone here ever tried to LEASH a cat? Mine won't even wear a collar.
I'm suprised that they didn't take the cat to the vet and let him/her make the call on weather the cat was worth saving.
It must not have been hurt TOO badly because it managed to clime into the rafters (EVEN WITH ONE EYE RIPPED OUT). Sounds like this cat had a bunch of fight left. Poor kitty.
The animal control person sounds like a typical Demonrat.
I thought of that too. Pretty small body for the Taser to impact and from a good distance{the rafters.}
LOL! I was thinking the same thing...
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