OHIO -- Five kittens and their mother were rescued from a South Scioto Street property after a police officer saw a boy and his friends shaking and throwing the animals from a trampoline.
Officer Christopher Hempstead arrived at the home after someone reported the abuse taking place and immediately saw an 8-year-old boy holding a kitten by its hind legs and swinging it in circles.
“Then, to my disbelief, I observed the cat thrown so high it flew over the safety barrier on the trampoline in the back yard,” he said in his report. “I immediately intervened and called for the humane society.”
Christine Roan, director of the Circle Area Humane Society, said the cat and kittens “didn’t appear to be too injured, just a little traumatized.”
She took them into her custody and has already found someone interested in adopting them.
Circleville Police Chief Wayne Gray said the department does not receive many calls about animal abuse and many times it is an issue of neglect. He suggests parents talk to their children if they see abuse toward animals.
“If the parents are watching their kids do it, they need to talk to them and make sure that type of behavior is not going to turn into something more significant,” he said. “My biggest thing is, pets aren’t toys. Somebody needs to take care of them and treat them right.”
Although police are looking into the case, charges are unlikely to be filed given the accused is only 8 years old.
“They have to have a culpable mental state,” prosecutor Judy Wolford said. “They had to purposely, knowingly or recklessly do something. That’s the problem with [a case involving] a youngster.”
As for the child’s parent, Hempstead said the boy’s mother was working in the front yard at the time of the incident. She said neighbors had left the cats behind when they moved and she had been feeding them for a couple of days.
(The Circleville Herald - Jun 27, 2013)
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