Cat Tossing Couple Plead Guilty to Animal Cruelty

I guess they had no choice but to plead guilty in the hope that they would receive a lenient sentence. This concerns the Ashtabula couple, Kaine Fowler and Melissa M. Candela, who posted a video on Facebook of them balling up cats and tossing them between themselves for entertainment, in an apartment where they were babysitters! Kaine admits he was high on drugs and drunk at the time. I guess Melissa went along with it.

They both attended court in person (without a lawyer) and admitted everything. The situation was so odd the prosecution lawyer recommended a presentence report to help decide the sentence. The judge has the power to fine them each $1000 and 6 months in jail for the first-degree misdemeanor of cruelty to companion animals.

The court was attended by cat lovers who wanted to see justice done. There will be a sentencing hearing in due course. Kaine has a string of minor criminal offenses and Melissa also has a criminal record. It does not take much imagination to realize that they were unsuited to be babysitters. How could the mother ask them to do it? Bizarre.

One of the cat-loving spectators, Mary Smith, said: “I have a very spoiled calico at home who wanted me to come”. I don’t think this sort of statement, well-intentioned as it is, is helpful. It portrays people who like cats as slightly odd. We have to avoid that particularly in public places attended by journalists because there are a ton of people who dislike cats who want to portray cat lovers as crazy (due to being infected with toxoplasmosis!).

Also what about their conduct regarding baby sitting? I suppose they did not commit a crime but some people will be complaining that court time is wasted. They don’t see this a cat cruelty.

“This is what we need the Ashtabula courts concerning themselves with? Cat juggling? Someone came to be the “voice of the cats”? Really? Ms. Smith shares that it was her calico who implored her to come? Did it, now? After reading about it in the papers, no doubt. We have truly become a society of idiots.”

“I totally understand the disgust over their behavior AND the tossing of the cats, BUT, what about the children that were also in that situation? I, for one, hope that Kaine Fowler has charges pressed against him for being there high and drunk while babysitting! Also, the parents who left them with this person. Where were their heads in allowing him to babysit? Doesn’t anyone care about the kids?”

Perhaps Kaine thought the video posted to his Facebook page was a bit of dark humor. He appears to have lost his ability to make judgments about the morality of what he is doing and so does the mother of the kids they were babysitting for.

Source: Star Beacon: News.