New Jersey: Tow truck driver, Kazem Shirinzad, charged with dousing kitten in motor oil

NEW JERSEY -- Authorities say a tow truck driver has been charged with animal cruelty for dousing a kitten in motor oil and abandoning it inside a box that was tied shut in New Jersey.

Bergen County prosecutors said Thursday that 35-year-old New York City resident Kazem Shirinzad was issued summones for abandoning a domestic animal, inflicting unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal, failure to provide an animal with food and water and carrying an animal in an inhumane manner after the kitten nicknamed Olive Oil was found May 16 in Fort Lee.

Authorties say the cat was treated at an animal hospital and will later be available for adoption.

Bergen County Animal Shelter and Adoption Center director Deborah Yankow told The Record that the kitten is doing well but is still greasy.

Authorities say Shirinzad worked in New Jersey near where the cat was found outside a high-rise in Fort Lee.

"Olive Oil was found inside a box that had been tied shut preventing any chance of escape," the SPCA said in a statement. "She was covered in motor oil." 

A phone number for Shirinzad could not be found.

A court date was set for June 14.

The SPCA has created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the kitten's medical care. By Friday morning, about $1,700 had been raised.

(Philly.com - May 27 2016)

Earlier:

• New Jersey: Authorities search for clues in abandonment of kitten soaked in oil in Fort Lee

New Jersey: Authorities search for clues in abandonment of kitten soaked in oil in Fort Lee

NEW JERSEY -- Authorities said on Friday that they are trying to determine who abandoned a 6-month-old female kitten in Fort Lee this week, dousing her in motor oil and shutting her in a box that was tied shut.

The kitten, now having been named Olive Oil by authorities, was found at 10:30 p.m. Monday in bushes outside of a high-rise building on Palisade Avenue, said Detective Capt. Patrick Kissane of the Fort Lee police. He said authorities are examining a surveillance video from the area as part of their investigation.

Olive Oil was taken to the Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus where she was cleaned and X-rayed before being transferred to the county animal shelter, according to the Bergen County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which is in charge of the investigation.

The county SPCA created a GoFundMe page to raise money for the kitten. On the site, the SPCA said its agents are “continuing our investigation and hope to find the person responsible for abandoning Olive in such a cruel manner,” adding that the agency “will prosecute to the fullest extent possible.”

Anyone with information about the case or other incidents of animal cruelty may call the county SPCA at 201-573-8900 or email the agency at www.bergenspca.org.

(NorthJersey.com - may 20, 2016)