Youngsters, they look like American teenagers, videotaped themselves after ‘stealing‘ a black cat whose name is Smokey (it may be ‘Shadow’). In the video they are in a car and a young woman is laughing and talking loudly. One of them admits to stealing Smokey. They know the cat’s name. I guess they know who they stole the cat from or the cat has a collar.
One of them shouts, “we stole the fucking Cumby’s cat”.
But did kids steal a cat as admitted? See below the video. Don’t forget to turn the sound on – click on the audio icon bottom right corner of the video.
They stole the cat from West Warwick. The cat is identified. Perhaps the cat’s collar provided the name. People saw them pick up the cat and put him in their car. We are told that they drove off with the cat and then released the cat at a different location. That was obviously careless and cruel. Apparently the cat was released on Phenix Avenue, Cranston. Another source says: “They found the Comy’s [Cumby’s] stolen cat laying in the parking lot of the NASCAR motor speedway in a totally different area”.
Jan Scere says:
“They dropped the cat in a very bad section of West Warwick RI , a very bad area he was laying in the parking lot of the speedeway the one guy in the back seeing the cat is upset on the dashboard of the car says let’s take him back to the Combeys the girls says no get the fuck out of here and opens the door they guy in the back is shocked (what happened to upset the cat is unclear as the video was off for a while and they have driven to the other side of town.”
Kids Steal A Cat? Legal note: I’d like to make a comment about this from a legal standpoint. Without wishing anyway to condone what these kids did, I doubt whether this is theft. Theft requires an intention to permanently deprive the owner of, in this case, her cat. I get the impression that this group of kids did not wish to achieve that goal despite the admission on video. They simply wanted to have some fun with someone’s cat. It felt like theft to the guy who admitted theft but he does not know the legal definition.
The comments are interesting. Brian says that the gene pool in the area is getting worn down and not to mention that daddy is not around and that mummy has a different boyfriend in the house every weekend. He’s saying you can blame the parents.
Linda Ross says that all the people involved in this prank are known. Another commenter says that the people living in West Warwick are nothing but trash! The general mood among people who have seen the video is disgust at the behavior of these young people.
Update
Later on there was an update from Jonathan Thomas on another Facebook page in which she says that the cat has been found unharmed. He agrees that what the kids did was juvenile and stupid. They deserve to be punished but the cat was not abused. I would disagree with that because letting the cat out in a strange place as a form of abuse. It was a prank he says. They think it’s like stealing an inanimate object rather than a living creature.
He says that it’s not worth complaining to the police because they are useless in situations like these. I would agree with that. However, they have arguably committed a crime under animal welfare laws but not the crime of theft it seems to me.
Comment: I don’t know about anybody else but I am interested in the moral dimension to human behavior. In this video young kids are involved in a prank. They steal a black cat. They take the cat in their car to a different place and then release the cat. This is cat cruelty because the cat will be lost for a while. Although the cat has been returned to his owner. The cat was not directly abused. The point is that these young people enjoyed the prank. They fail to see the immoral aspect of what they did which is to frighten the cat for their enjoyment They were not kind to this cat. It is our duty to be kind to animals whenever possible and appropriate.
Take the video to the DA office just by pass the police, They should be charged for not only animal abuse , animal abandonment, theft by also for the mental angusish of not knowing what happened to your beloved pey
Thanks for your thoughts Kathy.
Wrong on so many levels! It’s definitely abuse, and theft. It’s only by God’s grace that that animal was ever found. It so easily could have been freaked out, darted into traffic and then been killed. Or been hunted down by dogs, etc. I really would love to see them get the book thrown at them, at least that girl.
I’ll open a bottle of champagne is she is prosecuted for theft.
What if the cat had been injured? There is always that possibility. This is abuse and indifference to life.
The teens should be brought up on charges.
Charges are possible. No doubt about it. Would the police be interested? Thanks Anne.
So glad Smokey is home and I hope he becomes an indoor cat! The kids deserve to be prosecuted for theft and cruelty to an animal. But there are too many “bleeding hearts” around these days.
Yes, liberal political correctness gets in the way of justice and the truth.
Poeple think its was just kids having fun, i don’t think so it’s theft of personal property, PLUS anamal abuse and abandonment . They are driving at night the female own’s the car do they are not that young. The cat was clearly upset up on the dash board of the car. Since the video was off for along period of time which is obvious since they drove to the other side of town which is considered not a good area. There is a lot of crime and vandalism in West Warwick maybe these 4 need to be investigated for that too.
Thanks Jan for your contribution. It is valued.
I think it’s theft, because it involved taking something that belonged to someone else, without permission.
I’m glad the cat was physically unharmed, but he must have been stressed by this action.
Yes, it’s stupid careless and abusive behavior.