Iowa: The Cerro Gordo County Attorney's Office thinks that trapping cat inside duffel bag and throwing it into a river to drown is not torture; that's only abandonment of an animal

IOWA -- A Mason City man accused of throwing a bag containing a live cat into the Winnebago River will be sentenced May 26.

William Nathan Hill, 69, originally was charged by the Mason City Police Department with first-offense animal torture, an aggravated misdemeanor.

The Cerro Gordo County Attorney's Office later reduced that charge to abandonment of an animal, a simple misdemeanor. Hill pleaded guilty to that charge.

Court records say the state is not seeking jail time for Hill.

Police say Hill threw a gym bag containing his own calico cat into the river on March 21. It was witnessed by two people who went down to the river and found a live cat in the bag, officials say.

Hill turned himself in to police on March 24.

The cat survived and was nicknamed "Winnie" — short for the Winnebago River — by shelter staff at the Humane Society of North Iowa.

Ken Avery of St. Paul, Minnesota, has adopted Winnie.

(Globe Gazette - April 2, 2015)

Earlier:

• Iowa: Mason City police seek man who zipped cat inside duffel bag and then threw her into river to drown
• Iowa: Mason City man William Hill, 69, accused of throwing cat into river to drown
• Iowa: Winnie, the cat thrown into a river to drown inside a duffel bag by William Hill, finds a new home