The cat was taken Wednesday night to the Animal Care Alliance on National Road West for veterinary care. It was burned badly on its paws and chest.
“It smelled like smoke, and obviously had been tossed, I think, into some type of flame,” said Joyce Luckett, manager of the clinic that provides low-cost spaying and neutering services and walk-in clinics for low-cost animal medical care.
After giving the cat an IV for dehydration and pain medicine, the staff watched the cat try and lay down and fail to get comfortable, Luckett said. A staff member who has been a burn victim said the cat’s suffering would go on for weeks because of the depth of the burns, Luckett said, so at that point the cat was euthanized.
“It’s a terrible thing, suffering like that certainly didn’t need to happen,” Luckett said. “They feel pain. They feel fear. They feel the same things we feel. What kind of person does that?”
An Animal Care Alliance post on Facebook has generated angry comments, including those calling for the prosecution of whoever caused the burns.
And that’s just what Linda Miller, Richmond Police Department’s animal control officer, hopes to do.
Miller said Friday afternoon she’s spoken with the man who transported the cat from the New Paris Pike Trailer Court to the Animal Care Alliance. He said the cat was not his. Luckett said the man told staff members the cat ran into his home, so he brought it to the clinic for help.
Miller said she has no leads in the case.
The Animal Care Alliance has set up a pair of funds. The first is to help with the investigation and prosecution of the case of the burned cat. The second, called the Abused Angels Fund, is to help other animals brought to the alliance needing help after suffering abuse.
Donations are being collected during office hours (9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday at 4101 National Road W.) and by credit card over the phone at (765) 488-1342.
(Richmond - Apr 24, 2015)
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