Man Accused Of Feeding Cats To Pit Bulls

Warning: This story may disturb some readers.

A Georgia man has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals for capturing neighborhood kittens and cats and feeding them to his pit bulls.

The warrant charges that Tye Hilmo “did give injured live cats and kittens to his pit bull dogs and let the pit bulls kill the already injured cats and kittens. Hilmo would capture and injure neighborhood cats for this purpose.”

Authorities acted after receiving an anonymous tip that Hilmo had been capturing cats for his dogs to kill. The tipster also said Hilmo was preparing his pit bulls for dog fighting. Investigators said they do not have enough evidence to charge Hilmo with dog fighting.

Investigators found the bodies of two kittens near Hilmo’s house. They also found evidence on his cell phone: a picture of one of his pit bulls and a dead kitten, and beneath the picture, a caption that says “Good Dog.”

Aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony, and if convicted, Hilmo can face one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $15,000.

Hilmo was already in jail on drug, firearm and probation violation charges.


Source:
www.postchronicle.com

Animal control officer shot mother cat and her two kittens-claiming self defense!

Lackawanna animal-control officer Frederick S. Grasso finally got his day in court Monday, testifying that he shot and killed three cats last June only after they had hissed and spat at him from the basement of a Lackawanna apartment complex.

"I opened the door, I took two steps downstairs, and three cats - the mother and two kittens - came at me," Grasso testified at his daylong trial on two misdemeanor charges. "They were all hissing and spitting at me."

Grasso then went back to his vehicle and grabbed his rifle.

"At that point, the safest means to dispose of those cats was to shoot them," Grasso told West Seneca Town Justice Richard B. Scott.

The case was transferred to West Seneca because it had generated so much comment and publicity in Lackawanna.

Asked later by defense attorney Arcangelo J. Petricca whether he had any alternative to shooting the cats, Grasso replied: "No, I don't believe there was any alternative. There was no safe way to remove those cats."

The nonjury trial also heard testimony from six prosecution witnesses and three defense witnesses. After the daylong proceeding, Scott reserved decision until Feb. 20.

The conflicting testimony presented two widely varying accounts of the three cats that were shot June 10 on Eagan Drive.

Prosecution witnesses, including neighbors and officials of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, portrayed the slain cats and four surviving kittens from the same family as docile, friendly animals that purred and even jumped onto neighbors' laps.

Barbara S. Carr, executive director of the Erie County SPCA, examined the four surviving kittens about two weeks after the shootings.

"They were perfectly normal kittens," Carr told the court. "They were friendly, purring, liked to be touched and didn't struggle to get away."

Michael P. Felicetta, an Erie County assistant district attorney, asked Patricia Murtha, a neighbor from Eagan Drive in Lackawanna, whether the mother cat was aggressive.

"No way, no way," she replied. "Any time she came over, she craved attention."

Several other witnesses provided similar descriptions of the cats' behavior.

"[Grasso] would have you believe that the mother and her two kittens turned evil, turned nasty [that day]," Felicetta said in his closing statement.

During the trial, Scott viewed a DVD shot by SPCA Peace Officer Charles Braun about two weeks after the shootings and depicting the four surviving kittens as very playful.

"This has absolutely nothing to do with June 10," Petricca objected. "It doesn't help evaluate the situation on June 10. . . . It's irrelevant."

Much of the prosecution testimony earlier in the day focused on witnesses who had heard Grasso admit the shootings. But that testimony became moot later in the trial, when Grasso admitted to having fired the three fatal shots.

Earlier, defense witness Vera Bink, the rental manager for the Eagan Drive apartment complex, told the court about the phone call she made to Grasso after having been confronted by the mother cat in the basement.

"I told him on the phone, 'Be careful. Take caution. . . . The female cat hissed at me, and she was ready to charge the stairs,' " Bink said.

"She was afraid to enter her basement, and she feared for the safety of her tenants," Grasso testified about Bink.

Grasso faces two unclassified misdemeanor charges under the state Agriculture and Markets Law, one for cruelty to animals, the other for euthanizing a dog or cat by gunshot.

The law on which the second charge is based states that no one may euthanize a dog or cat by gunshot, except as an emergency procedure for a "dangerous dog" or a severely injured dog or cat.

As Felicetta pointed out, the statute doesn't talk about a "dangerous cat," and there's no evidence or testimony that any of the cats here were severely injured.

But Petricca, in his opening statement, argued that the euthanasia charge should be dismissed.

"This is not a euthanasia case, your honor," he said. "This is not a Kevorkian-type killing."



BuffaloNews.com Feb. 10, 2009 



I want to know why this ACO didn't just trap them?  If he was going to kill them anyway, wouldn't the more humane act be trapping them and "humanely" euthanizing them?  I very rarely agree that euthanasia is the best choice (and I don't agree in this case) but generally cats who hiss once are deemed "aggressive" and are killed by people like this.  


Also, isn't there a protocol for this sort of thing?  They were enclosed in a basement and were not an immediate threat to anyone or any animal outside the basement.  They need to have someone KNOWLEDGEABLE about cat behavior working with animals.  A cat hissing, especially a mother cat, is just trying to protect themselves and their kittens.  It is completely normal for a cat to hiss at a strange person coming into their area.  Just because she hissed doesn't mean she is aggressive.  Also, if she did end up being feral, he should have trapped her and gotten her and her kittens (if they were old enough) spayed or neutered.  


It's ridiculous that he just took it upon himself to discharge a shotgun in a residential area and shoot these kittens after a FIVE MINUTE interaction with them-not even 5 minutes, he said himself that he took two steps into the basement, then went to get his rifle.


There are a lot of people in the case claiming that the kittens and mother were/are friendly.  4 kittens survived and were not shot.  The temperament of the cats doesn't really matter to me that much.  The point is that they were living beings and the ACO took it upon himself to judge their temperament and decided they were dangerous and shot and killed them in a minute or two.


This guy needs to be fired and convicted of animal cruelty.  


If you write to the judge (which I hope you will), feel free to use anything I wrote above.


He is in court Feb. 20, 2009.

Judge Richard B. Scott
West Seneca Town Court
1250 Union Road
West Seneca, NY 14224

Phone: 716.558.3247
Fax: 716.674.0518

(Grasso's Attorney) City Attorney, Arc Petricca cityattorney@ci.lackawanna.ny.us
716.827.6479

Read more on pet-abuse.com.


Please sign the petition regarding this case.

Cat hanged, burned in fire pit

Police are looking to interview an Austin man who allegedly hung a cat by a string and burned the animal in a backyard fire pit.

An Austin police community service officer took a report about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday from someone about a 34-year-old man who killed one of two house cats Monday while drunk at a home, Police Chief Paul Philipp said.

The officer spoke with three people at 1107 Fourth Ave. N.W., who weren't home at the time of the incident but said the man told them he killed the cat, Philipp said. They then evicted the man from the home.

They had put the cat's remains in a garbage bag and placed it in the garage after finding it in the fire pit, Philipp said.

The chief didn't know why the man, who could face criminal charges of animal cruelty, killed the cat.


Read more 

Cat wired to car exhaust, killed-Abuser is acquitted!

A local man tells police he was trying to send a woman a bizarre message... and the messenger was a dead animal. Investigators from SPCA Cincinnati filed a serious animal cruelty charge against 23 year-old Raymond Southerland.

SPCA officials arrived in Northside to find a gruesome example of animal cruelty. A tabby cat had been attached to the exhaust system of Mallory Fisher's van, wired in place with coat hangers.

Mallory Fisher, Van Owner: "I was floored, I couldn't believe anyone would actually do that. It was sick."

Rich Jaffe: "Mallory's van was actually parked right about here, on the corner of Chase Avenue in Northside, when early yesterday morning residents who had been walking by, saw the cat hanging from the rear of the van and called the SPCA."

Jennifer Schwaller, SPCA Cincinnati: "Found a cat that was wired underneath a van that belonged to Mallory, cat was dead at the time, blood all over it, had been there all night."

23 year-old Raymond Southerland told police he used the cat, because he wanted to send a message to his ex-housemate, Mallory Fisher.

"The only message that I got from that was that he was a complete idiot and disgusting, because I knew who did it, because I knew he had a dead cat in his refrigerator."

Southerland was charged initially with criminal mischief. However, investigators from SPCA Cincinnati have upgraded the charges to a top level misdemeanor, charging him with animal cruelty.

"What went through your mind when you saw it? I don't understand what kind of statement that could make to somebody, I don't understand what point that would make to somebody... It's pretty sick."

Southerland told reporters over the phone that it was just a prank, and he did it because Mallory Fisher owes him money, and that everyone's blowing the situation out of proportion.


Case Number: /08/CRB/16246
Judge: Richard Bernat
Date filed: 5/13/08
Race: W
Sex: M
Age: 22
Date of Birth:5/24/1986
Bond Amount: $2000 10% Cash
Count: Cruelty to Animals 959-131B ORCN
Disposition: 9/15/08 321 Acquitted by court (Found NOT GUILTY!)


Click on the link below to be taken to his court file.
http://www.courtclerk.org/case_summary.asp?casenumber=/08/CRB/16246
 


Read more about the case...  


Here is the animal abusers address listed in his court file. (It may have changed since then)

RAYMOND SUTHERLAND
4257 WILLIAMSON PL
Cincinnati    OH   45223

Write the judge:

Honorable Richard Bernat
Hamilton County Courthouse
1000 Main Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202


Be polite!  Being rude hurts our cause!
Click here for tips on letter writing!


Don't let the cat be forgotten!  This cat died a terrible, horrific death because of this dead beat's "prank"!  Sutherland admitted to doing it to the police and he was still acquitted!

Man shot family cat with arrow resulting in cat's death

Ajalon Thomas Corcoran, 23, and his father, Bernard Morse Corcoran, 54 are dealing with the law after a neighbor's cat is found shot with an arrow through the abdomen.

Ajalon Thomas Corcoran, 23, was charged with two counts of animal cruelty. One count is a felony for causing the animal's death, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

His father, Bernard Morse Corcoran, 54, received identical charges for aiding and abetting the crime.

According to the criminal complaint brought by the Winona County Attorney's Office, the family saw the cat coming across the street with the arrow sticking out of its side Sept. 17. They were unable to remove the arrow but broke it off to transport the animal to an emergency veterinary clinic.

Because of contamination, the time required to remove the arrow and uncertainty about a successful recovery, the veterinarian recommended against surgery. The cat was put to sleep.

The family confronted the Corcorans about the incident, but they denied involvement.

A deputy with the Winona County Sheriff's Department inquired about it, and Ajalon Corcoran admitted to shooting the cat with a compound bow and a blunt-tipped arrow typically used for small game. He said the cat was a nuisance and thought it was a stray. He told investigators he attempted a lung shot with the intent to kill the cat but did not want it to suffer. Ajalon Corcoran said he had an agreement with his father to kill the animal, according to court documents.


Bernard Allen Corcoran, 55, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the overwork or mistreatment of an animal. He was also assessed $77 in court costs.



His son has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting a Jan. 20 jury trial.


Click here for more information on this case.

24 year old who tortured and killed cats goes to court Friday, Dec 12

**Warning** This story contains very graphic language that may be very upsetting.



A 24-year-old transient accused of torturing and killing cats will be tried on four felony counts - three related to animal abuse and one related to starting a fire, a Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday.  He was convicted of animal cruelty, in a different case, in April of 2008.  Click here for information on that case.

The judge's decision came after several police officials testified against Timothy Kooyman, revealing often gruesome details about his alleged animal abuse.

He killed one of the cats by dousing it with gasoline and using a lighter to set it on fire while it was still alive, one investigator said.

The burning cat then ran through dry brush in a vacant lot in north Rancho Cucamonga, causing a small brush fire.

He had pleaded not guilty June 6 in preliminary proceedings.

On May 14, the morning after he was arrested by San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies, Kooyman confessed the details of his cat abuse to Detective Alonzo Daniel, the detective testified Tuesday.

Daniel said Kooyman told him that he picked up a cat May 13 and drove to the vacant lot, where he broke one of the cat's legs.

Kooyman told the detective that he wrapped a cord from a cell-phone charger around the cat's neck to hold the animal in place, then doused the cat in gasoline before setting it on fire, Daniel said.

About 10 p.m. that day - six hours after the brush fire - sheriff's Deputy Wendy Saucedo arrested Kooyman after a routine vehicle check.

She testified Tuesday that she saw blood on Kooyman's shirt, and found a plastic storage bin inside the car that had two living mutilated cats inside. Their tails had been cut off, and all of their legs were broken.

The box was filled with bloody towels, and Saucedo said she found a pair of scissors covered in cat hair inside Kooyman's vehicle.

Both of the cats were later euthanized because of the severity of their injuries, said Jesse Kreider, a Rancho Cucamonga animal control officer.

Daniel said Kooyman told him that after he lit the cat on fire, he parked his car in a nearby neighborhood and took a nap.

After he woke up, Kooyman said he lured and mutilated the two cats found in the bin, Daniel said.

Two members of a Walnut Creek-based group that seeks stiff sentences for animal abusers attended the hearing.

"He's not crazy. He's simply sadistic," said Leroy Moyer, director of Voices for Pets. "He enjoys inflicting suffering on defenseless victims."

The judge declined to proceed with three additional felony charges of animal abuse against Kooyman because the incidents at Kooyman's Corona motel room took place in Riverside County.

Deputy District Attorney Debbie Ploghaus said she or detectives in the case will contact Riverside County officials to notify them of the incidents.

His court date is Friday, Dec. 12 at 8:30 am at 8303 Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse Haven Ave Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730.  The judge is Hon. Steve C. Malone.  (If you write a letter through snail mail, which is the most effective way, address it to Hon. Steve C. Malone with the address of the court house.) I cannot find an email address listed for him.


Here is a link to his court record.  You have to put in his first (Timothy) and last name (Kooyman).  Look for the case with the most recent date.

He was convicted of making a false bomb report in 2007.
He was also convicted of felony animal abuse earlier this year.
On April 4, 2008, he was put on probation which is to expire on April 4, 2011.
He was ordered to have no contact with or possess any animals earlier this year.
He is currently in jail, being held with no bond, until his hearing.

**Update**
On Dec. 3rd, his hearing was rescheduled for 2/04/09 at 1:30 pm.  A new date has been set.

This man has already been convicted of felony animal cruelty in early 2008 with an incident that took place in November of 2007.  He is now accused of another felony animal cruelty case.  We need to get this guy in jail and some psychological help!

Please write a letter, email or call the judge.  Rancho Cucamonga Courthouse, 8303 Haven Ave Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730.  The judge is Hon. Steve C. Malone.  Be sure to give the case number, FWV801497, his name is Timothy Arie Kooyman.  Click here to get tips on writing a letter.

On 12/18/08, there was a pre-trial hearing where Timothy Kooyman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity!!!  He is still in custody.  His hearing has been changed to 2/10/09 because he now has an appointment on 1/22/09 to determine if he is insane or not.  

Eight cats beaten, throats cut, thrown in dumpster by South Carolina College Student, Christopher Joel Campbell.

A Summerville college student, in Berkeley County, South Carolina has been charged with animal cruelty after he was accused of beating two cats and slitting the throats of six kittens. A witness told authorities he had given the cats to Campbell a day earlier.

Eighteen-year-old Christopher Joel Campbell is accused of leaving all the animals to die in a trash bin in back of a church.

Campbell was also charged with harassment in a separate case after allegedly sending his 15-year-old ex-girlfriend an e-mail that included a threat to her life.

Workers discovered the cats behind the Peace Presbyterian Church on September Seventh. The affidavit says three of the felines were alive when they were found but had to be euthanized because of their injuries.

Updates:
He admitted to killing eight cats - slitting the throats of six kittens and bashing in the skulls of two adult felines.

During his court appearance on Wednesday, Joel Campbell also owned up to making threats against his ex-girlfriend.

The 19-year-old's plea in General Sessions Court left a judge with a crucial decision: Was this a young man who made bad decisions, as his attorney claimed? Or was he a dangerous person with the capacity of inflicting monstrous cruelty, as animal-rights activists and his former girlfriend's family maintained?

In the end the judge showed some leniency, handing down a sentence that means Campbell will be monitored for years to come but could be out of jail in as little as 90 days if he successfully completes the state's Shock Incarceration Program.

Goose Creek police arrested Campbell, a Summerville resident, in October 2007 after being called to Peace

Presbyterian Church on Londonderry Road. Four cats were dead inside a dumpster behind the church, while four others were barely alive. All were later euthanized.

In addition to eight counts of ill-treatment of animals, Campbell faced a harassment charge stemming from threatening telephone calls and profanity-laced e-mails directed at his ex-girlfriend, then 15.

Statements before sentencing generated two vastly different portraits.

Campbell's attorney, G.W. Parker, spoke of his above-average intelligence, his supportive family and his involvement at Ridge Baptist Church.

Jennifer Conlon, the ex-girlfriend's mother, enumerated the horrors her family had observed during nine months they knew Campbell: squirrels killed by the dozens, ducks driven over with a pickup, a cat killed with a shotgun.

Campbell told her family of years of abuse, a stark contrast from the loving family he described in court.

"That's not the person who was up there today," Conlon said. "His true character is going to come out again."

The defense attorney said the cats had been living in a neighbor's shed. Campbell agreed to get rid of them, but killed them instead of taking them to a shelter, he said.

"He made a poor decision," Parker said. "I don't believe it was done out of some deep-seated psychological need to inflict cruelty on animals."

Animal-welfare advocates called it one of the worst cases they have seen. Two gave statements in court.

After 52 days in jail, Campbell moved to his grandparents' home in Kingstree and devoted time to officiating youth sports.

After weighing both sides, Circuit Judge Markley Dennis imposed a sentence not to exceed five years in the state's Youthful Offender program on one ill-treatment charge. That included 90 days of boot-camp-style shock incarceration, followed by supervised monitoring.

On a second charge, Dennis handed down five more years of probation to take effect after the Youthful Offender program.

Campbell received credit for 30 days served on the harassment charge and credit for 180 days on the other ill-treatment counts.

Ninth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Bryan Alfaro prosecuted the case. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said her office made no plea deal.

"This troubled young man intentionally committed horrific acts of animal abuse towards eight defenseless creatures," Wilson said in a statement.

Campbell's parents said he loved the outdoors and aspired to work for the state's Department of Natural Resources.

"We don't want to condone his actions," said his father, Joe Campbell, after court. "But we believe that Joel deserves a second chance."

Visit pet-abuse.com for more on this story.

Two teens plead guilty to microwaving cat

Two Camrose teens who pleaded guilty to killing a neighbour's cat by putting it in a microwave were sentenced to 100 hours of community service Thursday.

Justice Shauna Miller ruled the two teenagers will be put on one year probation for their role in the gruesome case. They are also banned from owning a pet for two years and must pay $500 in restitution to the family.

They have also been placed on a curfew for one year and aren't allowed to play violent video games.

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