I would like to comment on two disturbing cat stories. They happen to come from the United States because that is where most internet news/information in the English language comes from. One is in the news and therefore public information but no one has commented on it. While the other is less public in that few people have seen it but it is on the internet.
Perfect People Kill Cats
I say perfect people. That is a bit if an exaggeration but it makes the point that people who have no criminal record, who are decent law abiding citizens of the United States can decide to go and shoot at cats with a .22 rifle for the fun of it. Not one cat, although that would be bad enough, but up to 100 cats. They admit it. Up to 50 were killed or injured. We don’t know the number.
The fact that three teenagers decided to go around in an SUV and take pot shots at cats is not that surprising. What is surprising is that in their latest court appearance where they were looking to reduce their sentence (having been convicted of animal creulty) it was revealed that the reason why these three teenagers were not tried as adults is because:
- they were model students
- they were hard working and had
- never been in trouble before.
This was used in mitigation at the original sentencing hearing.
The detail does not matter. It is the clash of information that shocks a bit. On the one hand we have three American male teenagers two of whom were the main protagonists aged 16 and 17, who had lead decent lives we are told. On the other hand we have casual animal cruelty of the worse kind. And as usual it is the domestic cat that is the victim. Two dogs were also shot at but cats were by far the major victims.
Does this tell us that shooting at cats is considered acceptable in mainstream, middle class society in the United States? Is shooting at cats as normal as having breakfast or going for a drive to the shops? It almost seems that way.
The story is dull and normal. The same as the cat killings. For me this case steps out of the ordinary because it seems to say something about the relationship between the cat and the person in America. Is the main reason why cats are kept inside all the time to stop some crazy, normal teenager shooting at him or her?
Satanic Possession and Cat Sacrifice
This is a story written by the perpetrator of cat cruelty himself. He says he has become a pastor, a man of God. At one time he says he was possessed by the devil. Between these two extremes he killed animals for the pleasure of it and sacrificed a cat by strangling it and cutting it up.
His wife walked out on him about 11 years ago. I am not surprised because he sounds as if he suffers from mental illness but nonetheless lived a mainstream, somewhat normal life. He had two children, went to work and had a home to go to.
One day he came home from night shift. He entered his home. His wife came to him and told him he was leaving. She left with the children and was immediately picked up by her brother.
His previous dark experiences of killing animals as a young person surfaced and he started reading books on the occult. His demons demanded a sacrifice. He cut himself and drank his blood mixed with his urine and wine.
He picked up a boy and the pair went out to find a cat to sacrifice. They found a friendly cat that they could approach. They took it to a Pentecostal church where he strangled the cat and cut it. He used the blood to write satanic slogans on the walls of the church.
He was caught and incarcerated in a mental institution. He eventually recovered and met his new wife in a Methodist church. He found God. But on the way he had sacrificed an innocent cat.
For me the important bit of this story is that the first animal to cross his mind to sacrifice was a cat.
This is probably a throwback to the ancient Egyptians who as you know sacrificed cats (kittens actually) by the thousands to the god Bastet.
I think we are still burdened by the legacy of those early days of domestication. I hate the almost automatic connection between the cat and human violence. It has to stop.
- Broken link so removed Oct 2012
- Satanic Cults and Cats
My church does a lot of good– feeding and sheltering the homeless (in conjunction with other churches of multi-faiths), supporting the Bayview Community Center food pantry, providing instruction in English to people from Burma ( and in music– that was me!) and supporting Place of Refuge (ministry for pregnant women). I actually am not Democrat and I’m against the government doing these things, because individuals should be doing more to help other individuals. The government taking tax money by force and giving it to others is wrong. There is no love if you are forced to give to others, and such use of tax dollars in a way that does not benefit the person taxed is tantamount to stealing. Most government programs are so rife with fraud that there is little benefit to those who need it and an encouragement to be lazy to those who receive the money. Some believe we need a government provided safety net, but it’s become a hammock and that brings out the worst in people. I’m tired of people refusing to be part of the church’s initiatives because “the government already does that.” Our welfare state has degraded us all when you have Christians who won’t take a job because their unemployment check pays more than the job (which is stupid, because unemployment insurance simply makes up the difference in that case) and when church members will not obey Christ’s command to feed and clothe the poor because of the attitude “that’s what food stamps are for.” Both scenarios aren’t just bad, that’s evil– we are created to work and created to give to others. Our government is taking both away from us– as we let it happen. The good news is that the government does darn little to help animals, so maybe I can motivate church members to help. Our Sunday school (the kids) collected for the Humane Society last year and donated a big box of pet food, toys and treats. At the food pantry I mentioned I had considered donating kitty food and the parishioner collecting food donations agreed and said she had thought of it too. I plan to call the community center and see if they would like to start a program to help people keep their pet when they lose their job through pet food, supplies and perhaps even monetary donations to cover vet costs. I think it would take off. I also will suggest we sponsor The Cat Network one month as a Sunday School collection (or Second Hand Purrs) because these places are truly no-kill. Changing attitudes toward animals comes slowly, but I think I should stay and try to do it rather than go back to playing at my old church where the pastor was much more caring toward animals. At least both men are against declawing, and that gives me hope.
This is only the tip of the iceberg of disturbing stories about cats. I was reading earlier today about the conditions in many so called “shelters” and these included some shelters run by organizations which collect a lot of money. Cats are abused, neglected and brutally killed in the place that is supposed to be protecting them. In the meantime, these places are collecting millions of dollars from unsuspecting people who want to help. Something has to be done. There has to be more oversight of shelters. I’m not a big fan of government intervention, but we already have laws against animal cruelty. It should not be assumed that because an animal is in a shelter, he is safe from becoming a victim of cruelty. As much as I’d hate to see new regulations which would probably penalize good shelters too, maybe there has to be some codes in place as to how many animals you can have, provisions for quarantine, etc… The article I read seemed to suggest such codes are non-existent. That may be the case, since I called the police on a very bad cat shelter near me and it seems nothing was done. But Elisa nearly lost all her cats and ended up in jail over practically nothing. So it seems very arbitrary what laws are enforced, and those really trying to help are persecuted while the bigger animal shelters harbor sadistic monsters, yet the law won’t touch them. There’s way too much money being collected to help homeless animals for the amount of killing that’s going on. Someone’s getting rich while the animals suffer. Just like with declawing cats– the vets get rich at the cats’ expense. I hate the institutionalized, legalized (to a point) abuse of animals much more than I hate the random animal abuser. Both are terrible, but there is a lot of abuse happening at the hands of those paid to care for animals. That perversion of a person’s calling, of their life’s work into just the opposite of what they should be doing is doubly terrible. I also believe churches should be doing more to help improve conditions for animals. If we got the message out there that every little stray cat belongs to the One who created him, that humans who abuse animals will face the anger of the Creator who loves that animal, we could be making a real difference. But too many Christians, as Michael has pointed out, commit the sin of pride continually, going on and on like fools about how all the animals were put here for us to use and how we’re superior to the animals. Only humans sin. Animals are all innocent. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Guess what? It wasn’t made for us. We are accountable for how we use (or abuse) anything which was created, because it’s not ours, it’s only on loan to us. My own Pastor laughed at me for expressing these views, yet I can’t find anything heretical in anything I’ve said, whereas, his claims of “dominion” all come from before the fall into sin, and take no account of human pride or sinfulness. It is time for Christians to spread the word that we are accountable to our Creator, instead of spewing a bunch of prideful statements. Better than the animals? How did Jesus react when the disciples were trying to determine who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He didn’t tolerate that line of thinking at all. At one time pride was considered a deadly sin. Today it is celebrated and I’m getting absolutely disgusted, because this has real world implications in how we treat the environment, animals– and let’s face it– even other humans. As soon as you go down the path of who is superior, humans or animals, racism against other humans is the next logical step. People say I care too much about animals and not enough about people, but to me it is all connected and becomes one big slippery slope.
Excellent comment. Full of good stuff. The church can do much more. The church seems silent on animal welfare. Senior churchmen could make speeches about animal welfare. This is relevant to us because the way we treat animals is reflective of our attitudes and mentality. I hate to say it but the church has become too much of an institution – a sort of business in its own right. It defends itself and is secretive like businesses are. The church is there for people. It should belong to the people. And it should have the highest standards or morality on all aspects of life. The church should be socialist and big time Democrat. I bet a lot of pastors are Republicans and have a gun in the glove compartment. Where is the sense of mission and going good? I guess many churches do good but a lot don’t and the same applies to Britain and anywhere else.
Such medieval witchcraft evil practices emerging from a First World Country is really sad and disturbing. I thought that we Orientals and mostly Indians were one of the most superstitious people on planet Earth.Education is the only remedy for the cure against bizarre superstitious beliefs including a bias against the common cat.
I’ve had this conversation a thousand times. Or should I say argument because I am quite cruel towards the perpetrators of such crimes. It’s as simple as this. Some people are just born bad, sociopathic, psychopathic – you name it, and read about it too just so you know exactly who I am talking about. I don’t even necessarily blame the parents although that can have alot to do with it. Sometimes it doesn’t and in such a case, I feel terribly sorry for the parents of a totally evil and uncaring child. Those kids will grow up and probably be a bad memory in the lives of the various people they meet. Perhaps not in such an extreme way, or perhaps, as has been proved of animal killers who are young, they will really be sociopaths and ruin other peoples lives or even violent people they might become. When I was a kid, it never crossed my mind to be mean or cruel to an animal. I remember one kid stepping on a dead bird and laughing and I found it very disturbing. He’s a typical ass now by the way. Anyway, like I said, some kids are just bad and the sooner they get into serious trouble, the better – so the rest of us (and animals) can be protected. Alot of people think I am terribly bad myself for saying so but I have seen enough already. Treating them like innocent mistakes just empowers them to do more. No, they need to feel the revenge of mother nature in its most horrible form and then they might, just might – take a step back into the normal world, but I honestly don’t think they ever will. No, I think they are bad and thats it really. What do you do with something bad. Feel sorry for it so it can laugh at you? No, I personally don’t think so. I think that locking them up is the only real option. Sure, getting raped in the showers might do a little, but probably it will just drive them to be even worse. I know, I have been to jail. It’s as clear as the light of day when a person is a bad person and you know in an instant that there is nothing that can ever be done about it. Sorry. It’s true and its hard not to laugh at all those people who believe the parents did it, or that the kids deserve some kind of chance. They know exactly what they are doing, and furthermore they know that they, as people, do not feel things like other people. I have heard one guy say it out loud. He said he doesn’t know why, but he just doesnt care or feel anything that he knows he is supposed to. He said the first time he realised it, it was from some place of innocence, when he was about 5 years old, and all he has ever done asince then is, and I quote this “push buttons”. Peoples buttons, animals, you name it. The only thing he said he feels is excitement when he pushes a button that makes somebody or something or process just toally flip out. Go watch a documantary about sociopaths everybody, if you don’t think I am being reasonable. Those kids will be mean to thier wives if they ever get married. That is for 100% sure. They will be cruel to other people if it means they will profit. These are given things. The world sucks ass because of kids like this and the fact that nobody is allowed to put them in their place. Sorry parents, I dont necessarily think there is much you can do sometimes. That isnt to say you can’t also do a lot to cause or prevent it. It is also true that parents are the cause sometimes, or maybe even often – or maybe lack of parents. But when it comes to killing or toturing animals at a young age or any age, I don’t necessarily think its the parents. In such a case, some parents were unfortunate enough to give birth to something that would better have not been born at all. I think the reason why this is not a common occurence in europe is because we don’t have guns and we have better education. It’s as simple as that. Its not normal to shoot cats over here. It’s total lunacy infact. Any such person would be hunted down by the law and locked up for good without question. That is simply because we are not used to it and to us it seems like the behaviour of an insane person who is totally bonkers. Once in a blue moon you might hear about a kid shooting a cat or dog with an air rifle and getting in massive trouble for it. But I have heard of such things over here about 2 or 3 times in my 35 years of being alive. I read about stuff like this happeneing in the US about 35 times a year, and the guns are real. Furthermore, when I lived in Canada, about 3 or 4 times I heard about kids shooting people in th epask with those bb guns. My friend, and boss at work was shot in the leg by a kid with a bb gun. And the crazy thing is he just laughed it off in some kind of knowing way as if he did it when he was a kid. Things are just different over there. I’ve lived in former Yugoslavia where they had war and even genocide not 30 years ago from today and the people there would do no such thing to any animal. Even though those same people were killing eachother in Bosnia. I don’tknow how it works or why, all I know is that there are some real paradoxes out there. Mother nature can be awfully arbitrary about who lives and who dies. Sadly, culture is an untamed force of nature. We can’t escape ourselves in some sense. All I do know is that I have met people who have actually killed other people, who would never in their lifetimes do what those kids did. Personally I would do neither, even if there were a war on my back doorstep. But some people just don’t seem to have so much to live for. Now that its a capitalist society down there they all say they miss socialism and communism because life was better. Strange because they fought for the change and I can totally see why capitalism sucks down there because of the wrongdoings of all those American bankers and bankers in general. Their lives suck because they can hardly earn any money at all. But Europe is anyway falling apart. So in the grand scheme of things, little teenagers who go driving in daddys car around suburban America have really got a massive amount to learn about. And they are certainly not going to turn around and say ‘o no I realise now how its bad to shoot cats and stuff, so now Im not gonna do it again’. The one thing they need is to know that most people think its shameful so they at least realise they are freaks.
I think these kids know they won’t be punished as adults so they are willing to take the risk. I don’t care what anyone says about this, I just think that after about 14 or 15 years of age there should be no question anymore. People in jails don’t like animal killers. Those kids deserve to be raped in the showers and have nightmares about it for the rest of their lives. But instead they will go home and laugh about how they got away with it. Where’s the lesson in that?
I can’t bear to read the stories but in my opinion anyone who kills an animal for their own sadistic pleasure is far from a perfect person, no matter what age they are. No matter even if they are a pillar of society giving everything they have to charity, no matter if they work hard, no matter if they are the most pleasant person you could meet, they are deep down evil.
It’s disgraceful that people killing cats in the USA get away so lightly but then again it seems that cats are not valued there even by some people who say they love them, blatantly untrue when they relinquish them to Shelters on flimsy excuses and leave them to their fate.
I think it’s the deep down evil people with no conscience who kill cats, more so than mentally ill people, in fact mental illness can be used as an excuse by perfectly sane people who just enjoy having the power of life and death over what they look upon as lesser beings than they are.
The truth of the matter is than anyone harming or killing any other living being is the lowest form of life on this earth.
You are right Michael, it has to stop or Nature will take revenge one day and the kind human beings will suffer along with the cruel ones, who sadly it seems are fighting a losing battle.
I do hope there is no such thing as reincarnation as I don’t want to come back and be part of the human race again or as any animal at their mercy either.
Thanks for the support Ruth. I can’t understand how people can shoot cats. It is just beyond my comprehension. The cruelty is horrible and only humans can be this cruel.
I totally agree with you Ruth.