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| Luckty to be alive |
The kitten, about 4 weeks old, had been left near the decomposing dead body of a groundhog in the same truck. It was the putrid smell emanating from the vehicle Saturday evening, while parked outside the animal control officer’s Decatur home, that prompted neighbors to call sheriff’s deputies who then discovered the severely dehydrated kitten.
The animal was treated by a veterinarian and then placed in the care of the animal control director, Kristen Horton, who is still looking after it at her home.
“The kitten is doing very well right now,” said Macon County Sheriff Tom Schneider.
The sheriff said it appeared the animal control officer responsible for picking up the animal had made a genuine mistake and simply forgot about it. But Schneider said anyone who wears a badge and a uniform is subject to the same laws as everybody else, and must face the consequences of breaking them.
“Whenever you put on that badge, and I don’t care what badge it is, you make sure you do your duties, and one of this officer’s duties was to make sure that kitten was taken care of,” he added. “And, unfortunately, it was not.”
Police are still investigating details of the case and couldn’t say for sure if the groundhog had also been dead when it was placed inside the truck.
“At this point, I am not 100 percent sure either way,” said Lt. Jeff Scheibly, who oversees animal control. “It may have died in the back of the truck.”
Detailing the investigation into what happened, the sheriff’s office issued a written statement saying the animal control officer, who has several years’ experience, told police officers he was “aware of the dead groundhog being in the truck.” The statement added: “The officer stated he was unaware he had left the kitten in the back of the truck.”
He had then been arrested and taken to the Macon County Jail for booking. The animal cruelty charge he faces carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail, but jail time is very unlikely for anyone with a clean record.
A separate disciplinary hearing within the sheriff’s office will decide what internal penalty he faces, which could range from reprimand up to dismissal.
(Herald Review - May 22, 2012)
