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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

[shaggy eel]

,,, hey Rob, good to see you've weathered it here. I've been checking in to see how you're doing. Admiration BUMP!

[Nowhere Man]

My God is not a puppeteer who plays quirky games with the lives of humans, but a kind of engineer, an engineer of all the worlds. Given the unlikelihood of human form being universal, 'image' can have an unlimited number of possibilities.

The sapient lizards of a world so advanced it has directly harnessed the energies of its sun has probably also bounded past the notion that God must have scales like their own.

And I suspect that the God of the sapient lizards is not impressed with needless cruelty.

I pretty much see it that way. I do think there is some sort of God or "Creator" if you will. I think a lot of cultures (or aliens from other worlds) would put their own personification on what God is but He can take any form that He pleases. I guess He is sort of like "The Force" in the "Star Wars" movies as well. It's really tough to say, but I do agree that He isn't a puppeteer that plays with the lives of His worshippers like the Greek gods did in "Clash of the Titans." Cool movie though, I liked "Bubo" the robotic owl. B-)

I also come from the idea where basically God pushed the button to start the Universe and basically stepped back and said to everyone, "you're on your own." Sure He might step in and reward a good deed or help somebody in need, or to punish some bad people, but for the most part, He created us to find our own way and to rely on ourselves, find our inner strengths and fight our inner weaknesses. I'm also a firm believer in Kharma, where if you do good deeds, you are rewarded in life or in the Afterlife and the same is true if you do bad things where you are punished. I just don't accept the fact that if you "accept Jesus, Allah, Zeus, Thor, whatever," you somehow qualify a "Get Into Heaven Free Card" and you are saved. That's a cop out, IMHO. You have to back up your convictions by good deeds as well. If that is the case, then you'll get a mix of former death row inmates "up there" living among Mother Theresa, Dwight Eisenhower, Winston Churchill, and any other good guys you can think up. Maybe God tells the death row inmates to "live across the train tracks from everyone else," I dunno. B-) Maybe the Catholics are right, perhaps there is some sort of Purgatory too, but since they have done really bad deeds, I don't think they'd even qualify for that. I'm basically a "nuts and volts" (I'm into electronics a lot) type of guy, so maybe I'm a little out of my league, but I do have opinions on this stuff. B-)

[Nowhere Man]

This was a common topic of conversation in the late 60's and early 70's for me and my bunch. We reasoned through it even then, over a decade before I became a Christian.

That's when von Danikan got his start, "Chariot of the Gods" came out in 1968 I believe. I still wonder that myself, in my eyes, it is pretty plausible, IMHO. I do wonder if some of the other religious figure in history are of alien origin, from a prior technical civilization, or at least contactees. Needless to say, the paranormal is a fascination with me. B-)

[Nowhere Man]

Its basic human compassion man! I hate to get weird but wouldn't we all be surprised if some ET's decided we were not worth anything and hacked us apart, laughing all the way. By your reasoning(I THINK?), they would be correct in doing so because we are not "advanced" as they are.

Sometimes what goes around comes around, I sure would hate for aliens to come down and do cruel things to us as what we do to animals like in the original story. Yeesh!!! Hopefully they will have more compassion.

My apoligies if I have misunderstood your point, but I will NOT allow kittens to be grilled in my presence. If that makes me less intelligent or lacking in logic then I am such things. I run my life by logic but I guess I have certain things that will make me "illogical". I do not mind.

I know what you mean, I'm a "nuts and volts" type of guy, being into computers, electronics, and amateur radio. I'd like to scientifically be able to verify such things and there are times I need to see things for myself, although I do realize there is some sort of spiritual world and Afterlife too, although proof of that would be nice as well. B-) But seeing such deeds as the scumbags that did this to the little kitten or the 5 year old Runyon girl, well, personally, they really anger me. Some might say it is irrational, but then again, that is what makes us human. We are not Vulcans from "Star Trek" ya know. B-)

[LasVegasMac]

,,, it's taken you the best part of 24 hours to come back with that answer? Don't let me keep you from your Nintendo. Hey, remember what you'd always wondered? Live it, you're there.

I'm sorry it took so long to reply. I had no idea you were so anxious for my reply. Guess I'm lucky to have other interests in life, huh?

To put an end to this, my reply was to another poster. Why you decided to inject your $.02 is another issue. An issue I don't want to waste any more of my time with. My time would be better spent on the crapper.

Love and kisses,

LVM

[Momaw Nadon]

[AspidistraFlying]

>But the more disturbing aspect of this case is not the one kitten, but the twelve adults.

Yes. I eat meat, and I know it doesn't come tidily wrapped from the grocery, but from a living animal. [...] I can only hope there is a very special place in Hell for the kind of people who torture small critters, and the people who join in the 'fun' by doing nothing.

In spite of my disbelief in hell, I think we broadly agree on this issue. 8)

[AspidistraFlying]

I won't quote your whole message here, because it's much to long. If "being ignorant of the teachings of Christ" to you means not believing in those teachings, then I'll concede I don't. And I'll conced no more than that. If my not agreeing with your religious beliefs mean my views can be discounted for that reason, it says more about you than me.

If you mean I'm not 'aware of' the Christian scripture, then I'd refute that utterly.

If your're going to patronise me as a "little child" without dealing with the philosophical argument, or the 'Christian Scripture' quote/argument I provided you with, than your failure to engage with the argument is your own fault, and not mine.

I did not, nor did I ever presume (I'd not place such an awful burden upon you) that you agreed with the conduct of the person in question. What I took issue with was your refusal to have any sympathy for the kitten.

[AspidistraFlying]

Okee dokee. [...] Life is merely what could now be called highly sophisticated nano-technology, or a "Biological Machine."

Please answer my question, with reference to the scripture I provided you. If your God provides and cares for all the creatures, even birds, and especially humans, why should we not care a jot for the suffering of kittens.

Please don't lump me with other critics in this thread, I know there are many. I'd just love a coherant response from you.

[Diamond]

I find cooking an animal alive cruel, whether for dinner or giggles.

I know you do. I was just asking about the objective basis for your moral condemnation.

Let me put it this way; if a transcendent distinction between human beings and animals is blurred ("Our kinship to all creatures on earth is proven by the DNA we possess in common with them.") then what remains to provide any basis for making a moral distinction between cruelty and kindness? For example, if boiling a lobster to eat is cruel, then why isn't what a cat does to a mouse equally cruel and immoral?

Cordially,

[RobRoy]

Isaiah 11:6
The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling [ 11:6 Hebrew; Septuagint [ lion
will feed ] ] together; and a little child will lead them.
(Whole Chapter: Isaiah 11 In context: Isaiah 11:5-7)

[Diamond]

I happen to appreciate your examples and agree with your conclusions. (I have a brother who raises horses.) I'm just pointing out that those conclusions can only rest logically on the premise of a transcendent distinction between human beings and animals. You implicitly recognize this distinction with your observation that cats are amoral, and hard-wired to be hunters. So, as I think RobRoy concludes, human beings are moral creatures because they are made in the image and likeness of God, and cats are not. That is the distinction.

Cordially,

[RobRoy]

My apologies if you are in fact not ignorant of the teachings of Christ. I will acknowledge that you simply don't believe them. Ok. I apologise for assuming otherwise.

Regarding the suffering of the kitten, it is not even the story here for me. As someone brought up earlier, we cook other animals live and it is not considered torture by most.

I could go on, but I know I probably answered how I feel about the critter and any alleged suffering in one of the myriad of posts since the one your responding to.

BTW, Jesus was the most religiously intolerant man that ever lived:

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one
comes to the Father except through me.
(Whole Chapter: John 14 In context: John 14:5-7)

[Terriergal]

I find it completely bizarre and twisted that all these people stood around and watched. I have my sincere doubts that any of them were hunters, most hunters can't stand to live in an apartment complex and want to live where you *might* be able to see the lights of your neighbor's house on a clear winter night.

[Terriergal]

"I've known a lot of deer hunters, men and women, and I've never heard one of them indicate they enjoyed seeing the animal die."

Bingo.

[Terriergal]

I agree totally. It's a fine line. Society should be more involved with each other, holding each other accountable for behavior that's in poor taste or cruel (but not necessarily illegal). When we all wash our hands of being our brothers' keeper (to an extent) and applying social justice when needed, the law ends up multiplying and the law enforcement gets overloaded.

[Diamond]

I agree that the world has no shortage of we call amoral sociopaths. But the only basis for condemning their immoral behavior is the recognition that they are human beings, i.e. moral beings, and as such are accountable for their actions. If they were not qualitatively different from animals it would make no sense to condemn their behavior, just as it makes no sense to morally condemn the actions of a cat, or a machine that malfunctions. It is only the transcendent distinction between humans and animals that provides the logical and coherent foundation for making moral judgments.

Cordially,

[RobRoy]

My response was that I had covered in in previous posts.
I went back over them and can give you the info here:
Look at my post 162 in response to 111 and look at my post 151 in response to 65.

I cover it here in there in my other 300 or 400 posts here as well...