[Altariel]

A compassionate man putting a suffering animal out of its misery would use a single bullet.

This cat was beat with a nightstick 15-20 times.

[coloradan]

Seems to me at least one peasant was charged with felony animal cruelty for doing something like that. But, somehow, cops are different. When they do it, it’s ok.

[davisfh]

The insensitivity of some people knows no bounds.

[perchprism]

Poor Kitty.

[Netizen]

many vets have numbers for emergency calls. This would be one.

Just awful.

[The_Media_never_lie]

A compassionate man putting a suffering animal out of its misery would use a single bullet.

An officer cannot just fire his/her weapon when they like. They would have to fill out a lengthy report. The officer was in a no win situation.

[Theoria]

Dam man. You pick up a struck cat, off the road, or laying on your porch and you call the police? Is that the general role of the police force? Why? Is this common on other parts of the US. Just curious.

[MNDude]

When I was young and on vacation in Mexico I found a beaten cat in a bag in the garbage. I’m pretty sure his back was broken. It was late at night and I thought I’d might whack it with a board to take it out of it’s misery. The girl I was with didn’t like the idea and talked me out of it, so I left it there. I kind of regret leaving it like that, but who knows, what if it took lots of whacks to finish it off.

[Viking2002]

"An internal investigation was conducted into this matter and appropriate action has been taken internally. In addition, the department continues to review the current procedures in handling animal complaints is to determine if any changes or modifications need to be made."

Yeah, no kidding. This is one of those screwed up situations where you can point fingers in a dozen different directions, yet possibly not hit the responsible party (pun not intended). I can certainly feel for the owner - if one of our dogs or my wife's cat were badly injured by a car, we'd be beside ourselves. (We do have the luxury of the animal clinic only being five minutes up the road with 24 hour on-call, and have used it for a terminally ill pet in the middle of the night.) But, I also have to feel a little for the cop in this instance. He's subject to the laws and ordinances covering governing animal complaint calls; is it within his legal authority to euthanize an injured domestic animal, and does it spell out how and under what circumstances, or is that subject to his (or her) discretion? And is Harrisonburg municipal Animal Control supposed to get involved at some point? The one thing I can tell you is that there would be hell to pay if he discharged his weapon within city limits to put down a cat, no matter how humane or compassionate his intent was, which is why he didn't draw down on it to begin with. As it is, he'll probably have PETA and a gaggle of other animal rights groups crawling around in his shorts for dispatching it like a baby seal. Classic damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't scenario. Nobody wins, including poor ol' Fluffy. The one thing we can take away from this is, we've regulated and legislated common sense right out of our society, and this is another of myriad examples how.

"As democracy is perfected, the office represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. We move toward a lofty ideal. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

--H.L. Mencken, The Baltimore Evening Sun, July 26, 1920

[fortheDeclaration]

Frankly, the guy didn't want to deal with the responsibility and now he is feeling guilty.

Ofcourse, if the cat was somone's pet, it is really their fault that the animal died that way-KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS.

[MacMattico]

My husband wasn’t home and my dog got hold of a rabbit. I won’t get to graphic but when I saw the dog tossing the rabbit into the air I put the kids in the playroom and told them to stay there until I got back, no matter what. They hadn’t seen what was going on. I ran out and tried to save the rabbit but it was definitely to late. It even made a crying noise. My heart was broken but after getting the dog out of there I had to grab the shovel and swing hard, the poor thing was suffering and squealing. I didn’t know my own strength so I hit it a couple of more times just to be sure. This sounds horrible as I write it but there was nothing I could do and I wasn’t going to let the dog eat it or rip it apart where my kids play. I quickly
buried it in the flower garden and I told my girls I had buried a rabbit the
dog had killed. They had a little prayer for the rabbit and that was that.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Wayne Meadows sounds like a jackass pansy. Who the hell calls the police for a cat? This guy sounds like the type that waits for his grandmother’s social security check every month.

[Jack Hammer]

The police very often seem recently to be getting their jollies killing dogs and cats.

Hostile-aggressive Syndrome?

[packrat35]

Another example of why calling the police to your home is simply insane, unless your life is in danger (and then you better be sure) or to get the dead body out of your house from your use of deadly force to protect yourself?

[Hot Tabasco]

A compassionate man putting a suffering animal out of its misery would use a single bullet.

My dad, who was the head park ranger at a major metro-park in S.E. Michigan would do just that to sick raccoons he would see wandering the park in the daytime. He's even had to put deer down that he discovered caught in fencing in the back countryside of the park.......

The thought of beating that injured cat to death with a night stick makes me sick too.......