Driver who ran over cat 11 times spared prison

The Daily Telegraph (UK) ^ | December 22, 2005 | Unsigned

[aculeus]

A man who was caught on CCTV repeatedly driving his car over a cat has been spared jail.

Barry Haggerty, a 58-year-old chartered surveyor from Buckinghamshire, claimed he ran over the cat 11 times because he wanted to put it out of its misery.

Haggerty was heading for work when he ran over Mixey the cat on April 12. He returned to the scene and drove forwards and backwards over the animals as it thrashed around in pain, eventually killing it.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty and was sentenced by Milton Keynes Magistrates to a period of imprisonment of six weeks, suspended for 52 weeks. He was also ordered to do 60 hours' community service and to pay the prosecution costs of £4,182.

Dean Price, the defence solicitor, said Haggerty was "an animal lover" who was trying to put the cat out of its misery and had reacted with "horror and remorse" when he was shown CCTV footage of what he had done.

He told police he thought he had killed the cat outright when he first hit it but he returned and ran it over a further 10 times just to be sure.

The four-minute CCTV footage showed Haggerty's silver Renault Clio drive forwards and backwards over the one-year-old tortoiseshell female 10 times over a two-and-a-half-minute period.

The cat could clearly be seen thrashing its legs and tail in agony. Haggerty is seen to get out of his car at one stage to assess the state of the cat.

"I feel really awful," Haggerty said. "My only thoughts were how can I stop this animal suffering. The only thing I had was the car. I thought I was acting in the best interests of the cat."

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[Nowhere Man]

This guy deserves to be run over 11 times. Bastard.

Yeah, I agree with you there, I have 8 cats myself. BTW, didn't he ever think to take the kitty to the vets and let the veterarian determine what to do? This guy ain't running on all 8 cylinders.

[Nowhere Man]

He'd better never mess with my head Viking Kitty, Pansy. As you can see, she is charging up for a huge zot and she runs on 120 volts, 60 cycle power too. B-)



Pansy: b. 8-19-1987 -

[Nowhere Man]

Your belief on this is religious, which is fine, and most of us are happily eating loads of animals. But I don't agree with your belief that animals are sort of machines or teddy bears, both of which are man made. And in terms of awareness, your average farm animal may not be especially keen, but I do not want to test my awareness of surroundings against a grizzly bear, lion, etc that has decided to hunt me.

Yeah, animals to me at least, I always believed they have souls or spirits. I do believe they are self aware, maybe not to an extent we are but there is something there. I've become more religious in recent years and getting closet to God and Jesus myself, but I've always felt and known that life in all forms is energy and that energy takes form in some sort of conscious form such as a soul or spirit. I don't really subscribe to the belief that animals can be reincarnated human souls as the Buddhists or Hindus do but I just like to say that all forms of life is energy and do have souls and/or spirits.

[Nowhere Man]

Sure animals feel pain, I know it. I have proof. Try living with 8 cats, sooner or later by accident, I might step on a cat's tail or two and hear a shreak resembling a jet engine. Sure sounds like pain to me. Your Honor, I rest my case.

I do agree with you about the soul being the driver thing and I do see animals having souls as well, maybe not as sophisicated as ours, the American Indians often referred to the soul of an animal as a spirit but I look at it this way, our souls are like a programs for a Pentium IV computer whereas the animals is more like a Commodore 64, you have different degrees of sophisitcation but the similarities are there.

[Ciexyz]

There are drivers in parts of PA that go gunning for Canada geese. Personally I think they're beautiful, but they poop up people's lawns and are considered flying rats by the locals.

[Windcatcher]

Ugh. You have no idea. I've yet to see a more filthy creature. I especially loathe the morons who feed them at parks, golf courses, bike paths, etc. Talk about land mines...

[Ciexyz]

The state of PA was going to set up a program where they could terminate/shoot/poison home-grown Canada geese (but not the flyovers coming down from Canada.) The problem is, a certain percentage of them land and decide to stay for good.

[Windcatcher]

I wish they would. "Flying rats" isn't the half of it. They are incredibly filthy in the spring and summer. It was so bad where I used to work that they would have people with dogs go out to chase them off. I'm surprised to hear that some stay for good, since we have distinct seasons here (up to 100ºF in the summer and into the teens at night in the winter). I would think they wouldn't stop until at least the Carolinas.

[grey_whiskers]

What would Peter Singer of Princeton (pro-euthanasia, but pro-animal rights too) say about this?

[grey_whiskers]

Don't know why, but this brings to mind the Monty Python "Dead Parrot" sketch which immediately precedes The Lumberjack Song.

No cheers, though, in honor of the cat. (See my Freeper Home Page)

[Gigantor]

You believe your cat experiences pain, but being a human and not a cat, you cannot know...

Then, how can you, yourself, know that what you feel as pain is what other humans feel? You aren't them. They aren't clones of you.

So, you don't know this, therefore your own nutjob logic says that humans other than yourself don't feel pain.

[Lazamataz]

"Driver who ran over cat 11 times spared prison"

I thought you'd want to comment on this thread...don't ask me why....just thought of you....

Well, if you remember my case, I only ran over that cat ten times, so I was given more leniency.

[RobRoy]

>>Then, how can you, yourself, know that what you feel as pain is what other humans feel? You aren't them. They aren't clones of you.

So, you don't know this, therefore your own nutjob logic says that humans other than yourself don't feel pain.<<

But I AM human. I am NOT a cat. And humans were made in God's image (hint: it doesn't mean just physical). Cat's are, by definition, a natural resource.

[reg45]

In the old days all you needed was a brick, a sack and a deep pond.

[Nowhere Man]

There are drivers in parts of PA that go gunning for Canada geese. Personally I think they're beautiful, but they poop up people's lawns and are considered flying rats by the locals.

I work in accounts payable for a majoe shipping company and I've seen invoices come into the office for the local terminal here in Pittsburgh where I've seen "goose poop" as one the charges on the dock cleaning bill. Sometimes they have to call pest control companies to keep them away from there.

[beaver fever]

"I didn't realize that he'd climbed up into my Explorer and accidentally killed him when I started the engine."

That happened to my inlaws once.

Kitten climbed up beside the warm radiator. My father inlaw started the engine and bang.

When he opened the hood the cat was sitting stunned beside the carburator. Not a scratch but a pretty nice goose egg.

[tet68]

I thought I was acting in the best interests of the cat.

Obviously.

[Gigantor]

But I AM human. I am NOT a cat. And humans were made in God's image (hint: it doesn't mean just physical). Cat's are, by definition, a natural resource.

Irrelevant. You can only know what you, yourself, feel. Your notions about why animals don't feel pain must logically include all beings other than yourself.

P.S. - Has the Rover passed anywhere near your location on the planet Mars?

[Ciexyz]

Canada geese are PA's illegal alien problem. Unwanted, unneeded migratory birds, and you don't get just one but a whole dirty flock.

[chessplayer]

Here is an interesting article for those who don`t think animals feel pain.

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/pain/microsite/culture2.html