Man Arrested For Burning Kitten on Grill

AP/CNN | 7-16-02 | my favorite headache

[My Favorite Headache]

Man arrested for burning kitten on grill July 16, 2002 Posted: 4:03 PM EDT (2003 GMT)

A neighborhood friend of Sherry Scott holds the kitten they named 'Lucky,' in a recent handout photo.

LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) -- A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly burning a kitten on a barbecue grill as several other people stood around and watched in amusement.

A witness pulled the scorched, 7-week-old tabby from the hot coals, but it was severely injured and had to be put to death, police said.

"They kept saying, `Meow, meow,' and they were poking at it with a stick," said Sherry Scott, who burned her hand grabbing the kitten.

Charles C. Benoit, 24, was charged with animal abuse, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Jim Roberts, spokesman for the Clay County prosecutor's office, said he does not expect anyone else to be charged, because no witnesses could identify the others.

Scott said that on Friday night, she saw 10 or 12 people at the barbecue grill in the courtyard of the apartment complex where she lives. Scott said she asked what they were cooking, and they said it was a cat. She said the group taunted her, daring her to rescue the cat.

She said the group scattered when she threatened to call police. She said she pulled the kitten from where it had been shoved into the coals at the back of the grill. Its tail, whiskers, fur, eyes and throat were scorched.

"I called him Lucky because I thought I got him out of there just in time," she said.

Scott said she and other residents stayed up Friday night trying to nurse the kitten with an eye dropper of milk. But animal control officers decided that because of its respiratory injuries and inability to swallow food, it had to be destroyed.

"If you would have seen him, you would have cried," said Sheri Simpson, one of the residents who helped care for the kitten.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

[RobRoy]

I apologise for that post about the bullet or shovel. I was baiting and that is inapropriate here, at least to me.

Sorry.

[Diamond]

She said the group taunted her, daring her to rescue the cat.

She said the group scattered when she threatened to call police. She said she pulled the kitten from where it had been shoved into the coals at the back of the grill. Its tail, whiskers, fur, eyes and throat were scorched.

When I was younger, I was arrested and prosecuted numerous times for non-violently attempting to rescue very young human beings from a very similar type of violent death at the hand of abortionists. IIt seems to me that if those who view abortion-killing as legal wanted to remain logically consistent, then under our so-called 'laws' the guy who did this should be viewed as just practicing 'medicine' without a license.

The purpose of law is largely forgotten and perverted, particularly with regard to certain human beings, and your elegantly understated point of view has brilliantly illuminated the problem. And btw, for what it's worth, I think had you been at the kittenque, you probably would have been the first one to snatch the kitten from the burning coals. I think you would have beaten me to it.

Cordially,

[SupplySider]

Well, though I don't eat them, I think we are mostly in agreement. I do think animals are more than just walking meat, though. They are far from humans, but I think they are a lot more conscious than carrots or rocks.

[RobRoy]

And btw, for what it's worth, I think had you been at the kittenque, you probably would have been the first one to snatch the kitten from the burning coals. I think you would have beaten me to it.

EXACTLY!

Thank ewe...

[RobRoy]

agreed

[JavaTheHutt]

Yes, I guess I did forget the sarcasm tags, as that remark was a reflection on the opinions you have stated here, not me.

[PhilDragoo]

I'd say that whichever church you attend needs to be purchased, the building destroyed and the ground salted and prayed over.

Whew. Need a Seat Belt Warning on that one. Had to climb back up here.

That's a big ten-four.

[PhilDragoo]

Because what individuals and societies do to the weakest and most vulnerable among them is an indication of the character and nature of those individuals and societies.

This is civilization. Without this there is only Golding's Lord of the Flies.

[finnman69]

Sounds like a Wiccan Liberal to me.

[RobRoy]

Yes, I guess I did forget the sarcasm tags, as that remark was a reflection on the opinions you have stated here, not me.

I knew what you meant. I was just being somewhat jovial.

JTH, I do need to point out however that none of my opinions state anything of the sort. Many have infered it from my posts but at no time have I directly said or implied such. My feelings are reflected briefly in post 404 and more clearly in others.

[RobRoy]

Methinks the two of you don't really have a strong grasp of the teachings of Jesus the Christ, or his disciples. Not trying to inslult you, a lot of people don't. I know I'm learning more every day.

But the remark from oth's original post seemed to come from a humanist as opposed to Christian perspective which, of course, is not how the church is judged.

[Momaw Nadon]

What is the moral difference between grilling a live kitten and putting a live lobster into a pot of boiling water?

Is it not true that both of these animals will have a similar experience of suffering?

Does the fact that the lobster is to be eaten, while the kitten is to be watched suffering make a difference?

Does a live kitten put on the grill suffer more than a live lobster put in a pot of boiling water?

What is the moral difference between one person who boils a live lobster for the pleasure of watching it suffer and die, and another person who boils a live lobster so he can eat it? In both cases the live lobster being boiled suffers equally.

Would anyone say that it is just as wrong to grill a live cat as it is to boil a live lobster?

[matrix]

You are misinformed.

[Black Agnes]

Kittens are much further up the food chain than lobster. Do plants feel pain when you boil them?

[RobRoy]

You nailed it. The problem is not WHAT you are doing or the KITTENS suffering. The problem is the WHY. That is why Jesus said that if you hate your brother you have committed murder in your heart.

The issue is not the damage to the kitten. It is the damage to the spirit of the man who burned it. The mans spirit is eternal, the kitten is not. The kitten is merely the vehicle through which this man showed poor judgement (to say the least). But this one ACT makes him no more a criminal than someone who does boil a lobster alive.

I had hinted at the lobster thing on a previous post, but no body picked it up.

[RobRoy]

ok.

[RobRoy]

>>Do plants feel pain when you boil them?<<

Some studies suggest they do, unless you already killed them before you put them in the pot, which studies also suggest creates "bad feelings" in the plant.

This has been discussed on other threads and it seems to have as much merit as a lot of the other positions people hold about the suffering of animals.

[Momaw Nadon]

Kittens are much further up the food chain than lobster. Do plants feel pain when you boil them?

I do not know the answer to that question, as I am neither a kitten nor a lobster nor a plant.

What does an animal's place on the food chain have to do with the amount of its suffering?

Alligators and sharks are very high up on the food chain, yet they are killed and eaten by people.