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."
Hysterical.
Alpo sounds like quite a guy,definitely NOT a metrosexual male and surely IS a Republican. No PC crap for Alpo!
Well, they did give the Kitty a last smoke!!
Maybe they should have called in Edgar Montrose, the demolition "expert!" You've got to love Red Green!
That's all fine and well, but I just have to ask how many veterinarian offices he passed on his way out of town to kill a cat that was still very much alive.
Who would it have harmed to have a vet look at the poor kittie? At least then the vet could have made the poor animals last few minutes on this planet a little more peaceful.
You don't know for a fact that the police officer killed the cat on the first shot. You ever tried to shoot a still mobile wounded animal before? It's not that easy.
All I am saying is that there were more HUMANE options available than driving the wounded animal out of town to shoot it.
The wife and I had a problem with feral cats last year (due to ME feeding a stray).
I made a few phone calls to some local feline rescue organizations and one agreed to take the cats off of our hands. They didn't turn them over to the pound. They raised them to be friendly to people so they could be adopted or the "fixed" and released them back into their environment. I will say that we also gave them a sizable donation as a thank you.
Sorry. My 15 pound kitty won't let me get close enough to his paws to count his claws and that's just fine by me.
I can touch him everywhere but his feet. Everyone has their boundries I suppose.
I just sort of assumed he had five claws per paw and you know what they say about that.
Actually, I did put down a fox that was hit by a car once, it wasn't hard to him from five feet...He didn't suffer any longer.
Yes, but did you pick up the fox and drive it out of town to kill it?
What, get closer than five feet from a wounded, wild animal?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? No, it was un-incorporated county land and I was on my way to work. (I didn't hit him...)
It's not every day you have an opportunity to test all your systems. They probably used the siren and lights on the way out of town to see if those worked too.
"It's not every day you have an opportunity to test all your systems. They probably used the siren and lights on the way out of town to see if those worked too."
Yeah, I guess you're right.
They didn't tell us what they shot it with.
Maybe riot shotguns AND sidearms AND rubber bullets AND tear gas. Maybe in the reverse order
No doubt they squeezed a little practice in with the ASP to
Why didn't they call the Roto-Rooter guy in while they were at it.
Geez.
Detroit in 67, hope none of your friends took you to a "blind pig".
I was only 4, don't remember much, just I was sick and my Dad had a wedding to go to in Penn.
BTW, I just have a soft spot for kitties, and your comment was good.
Guess we need to have an exchange program for cops.
When Spawn (my cat) had 'nads, he'd be out engaged in battle or singing the blues and people would take the hose to him. Worked for a while but after a few times he got wise to that, you could tell when he started coming home dry instead of wet and with a 'tude.
When he fought he come home covered with blood and cat slobber, usually both from the other cat. During "fighting season" his fur is thick as hell and provides a near impenetrable shield. It's hell getting ticks out of it though (which happens when we leave a Frontline gap).
BTW, I've observed that Frontline appears to kick ass on ear mites too...
Not normal at all. The tazer probably burned it's insides up.
So how many cats have you dropped in a field so they can slowly starve to death?
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