Associated Press
APPLETON, Wis. - A 59-year-old man is charged with shooting and killing his neighbor's cat because it was a nuisance.
James J. Shilka, of the Town of Oneida, is charged in Outagamie County Circuit Court with felony mistreatment of an animal causing death.
A criminal complaint said Gail Carriveau let out her 9-year-old cat, Sheba, on Sept. 26 and the cat never returned. Carriveau searched for her cat and posted fliers and checked area animal shelters, but there was no sign of the cat.
During a later search she ventured on to Shilka's property and found the body of her cat behind a building, and she called police.
Shilka told police he shot the cat in the head with a .357 magnum when it came onto his property, and he then threw the body down the hill behind his pole barn, the complaint said.
Shilka allegedly told police "there are numerous cats on his property and they are nuisances."
Carriveau has had other problems with cats in the past; on May 18 another of her cats was shot and had to have its leg amputated and on July 25, 2003, another cat was found dead in her garage of a gunshot wound to the abdomen. No one is charged in those incidents.
Shilka faces up to 3 1/2 years in prison on the mistreatment charge.
How many of them were shot when they were on a leash?