This kitten had burn injuries to her neck and mouth
Every now and again our Inspectors come across a case that is truly disturbing.
The discovery of a kitten dumped in a bin with the remnants of firecrackers underneath duct tape wrapped around its body has shocked RSPCA staff, who sadly see a lot of animals that have suffered severe trauma.
On 27 July, at approximately 9:30pm, RSPCA Qld received a call advising that a kitten had been found discarded in wheelie bin outside a residential property in Park Ridge.
The kitten was found with duct tape wrapped around its neck, legs and torso and was taken to the RSPCA Wacol campus veterinary hospital. When the tape was removed, veterinarian staff discovered remnants of fire crackers and burn injuries to the kitten’s neck and mouth.
As I’m sure you can understand this was not a ten second brain snap where a person has lashed out and harmed an animal in anger. This appears to have been a calculated, premeditated act of extreme cruelty. Sadly international research has shown all too clearly that similar cases are the precursor to greater violence. Cruelty to animals can lead to cruelty to humans and worse. These links have been closely examined by Professor Frank Ascione in the United States.
"Animal cruelty is by far the greatest predictor of violent tendencies in later life,” he says. “We’ve come across scores of cases where serial murderers were found to have tortured animals in their youth.”
We have seen this in Australia where both Martin Bryant (Port Arthur massacre) and John Travers (Anita Cobby murder) had long histories of animal cruelty.
On 29 July RSPCA Inspectors accompanied by Queensland police officers, executed a warrant at a Crestmead address and spoke with one male in his early 20’s. A large number of fireworks and crackers were located at the property, along with drugs and an antique firearm. The RSPCA Inspector seized a piece of used duct tape with cat fur matching the fur of the kitten that was located in the bin. A mobile device was also seized which contained a video of a person lighting firecrackers which were taped to the kitten.
No animals were located at the property.
"The investigation is ongoing,” said RSPCA Qld Chief Inspector Daniel Young. “Quite frankly I’m at a loss for words. How anyone could treat an animal like this and then discard it like rubbish is appalling. This level of offending shows a complete lack of empathy and a very disturbing level of cruelty.”
Two other cases, one involving a cat, the other, another kitten, are also ongoing . On June 25th a cat was found deceased in a freezer at Dakabin dump. The cat was a white and ginger patch tabby, male and was not de-sexed.
Post Mortem results noted a significant injury to the cat and the investigation concluded that the cat was put in the freezer alive and suffered for a period of time before dying.
The case involving another kitten is also still under investigation. On the morning of July 29th the ginger and white domestic short hair kitten was thrown out of the window of a car in Wakerley.
A witness was driving behind a white SUV on Green Camp Road, near the intersection of Rickert Road, when they saw “ a big ball of fluff” fly out the back left window of the car. The car kept driving and the kitten was rescued by the witness and taken to Manly West veterinary surgery before a report was lodged with RSPCA.
"This action is totally unacceptable,” said Chief Inspector Daniel Young. “If the witness had not stopped it is likely the kitten would have suffered a serious injury or potentially died.”
As you can imagine, these are just three of the numerous cases under investigation. But it is unusual to get three cases involving cats and kittens in one week. We’re urging anyone with any information in regard to these three cases to call 1300 ANIMAL.
