Most notorious cat cruelty cases

These are the most notorious cat cruelty cases I know of from being involved in web searches and posting articles over eight years. They are also the most sinister and gruesome. There is something of a horror movie quality about them. I think of psychopaths and serial killers when I think of these examples of cat abuse/killing. They also stand out for other reasons. I am not even sure what those reasons are. Perhaps it is all about the dark side of life and we know there is a lot of darkness out there. Fortunately there is also a lot of goodness from genuine, decent, kind-hearted people who care and who give up a part of their lives to express that caring quality in improving cat and animal welfare.

Here is a list of six notorious cases:

The Miami-Dade Cat Mutilator

This goes back to 2009. Elisa posted the articles. There are several articles on PoC about the alleged perpetrator, an angelic looking young man whose name is Tyler Weinman, aged 18 at the time. He was a middle class kid. His father is a dentist and ‘an upstanding member of the community’. This is what adds spice and notoriety to the story.

Two dozen cats (or more) were found ‘murdered’ mutilated and gutted in southwest Miami-Dage. As usual it was a major story at the time. A $12,000 reward was offered.

Weinman was arrested and charged with 19 cases of animal cruelty. You can read the sequence of stories on the “Miami-Dade cat ripper” on this page. Tyler was not convicted. He was acquitted and cats were deemed to have been killed by predators as I recall.

The Black Bag Case

This is another macabre cat cruelty case; something out of Silence of the Lambs. Black bags strung up on the branches of a tree in a wooded area in Yonkers, New York, overlooking the Hudson river. Inside the bags were the bodies of 25 cats and kittens bludgeoned to death and in various states of decay. A reward of $22,500 was offered by PeTA for evidence leading to finding the killer. In the ultimate irony, PeTA was dumping cats in black bags in a dumpster at the rear of their facility. That is the spice in a weird story.

This page tells the story in two articles; the major one by author Jo Singer. I have not heard of a conviction in relation to this case.

The Boy Video Torturer

This concerns another young man, Luka Rocco Magnotta. An angry, psychologically damaged young man no doubt. He videoed himself torturing two kittens by placing them in clear plastic bags and sealing them. The video was deleted years ago and I presume soon after he became notorious. A screenshot was captured by me and you’ll see the dead-eyed face of this cat killer elsewhere on the internet if you are unlucky enough to stumble upon him. He’s weird and he’s elusive. I don’t think he has ever been caught. This is the page where you can read and see more.

Zip Tie Torturer

This is petty criminal behavior by a sh*tty-minded individual. It is not a big story, just a bad one. It a classic case of cat cruelty which represents all casual cat cruelty, and it is happening as you read this. This is the page. The young cat was euthanised because of the injuries suffered. It happened in Brighton, Michigan, USA. Once again, the criminal was not caught.

Westberry

Julianne Westberry is infamous. She is not only a mass hoarder; she is a fraudster. She presented an image of herself on social media as being kind-hearted and doing good, networking amongst the many cat rescuers some of whom sent their cats to her to be sheltered and rehomed but instead a great many starved to death in deplorable conditions. She is mad and bad, and we are still waiting for the case to come to trial. She has not been charged with enough crimes. If she is ever tried in the criminal courts, she’ll probably get off lightly, which is why we, the caring public, become disillusioned in the justice system. This link takes you to a saga of abuse and cruelty – written by the arch-exponent of cat cruelty stories, Elisa Black-Taylor. The articles are in chronological order beginning with the most recent.

The Veterinarian Bow and Arrow Cat Killer

This is fresh in our minds and very recent. It is a standout case because of the simple fact that the cat killer is a practicing veterinarian, who is trained to be caring and sensitive towards animal welfare. Sadly, the veterinary college which accepted her failed to pick up, on her blog, her self-declared pleasure in killing animals – any animal, she did not specify. This young, attractive woman has her own ‘tag’ on PoC. Her name is Kristen Lindsey. Her parents were involved. Becky, her mother took the notorious photo of her daughter proudly holding her ‘kill’ aloft with an arrow through his head. The cat allegedly belonged to a neighbor. Lindsey believed he was feral. What difference? It is still abject cruelty by someone who should have known better and who, if convicted, is a fraud of a veterinarian. This link takes you to the grizzly saga.

Woodsman001 aka Jim Stevenson

I have to include him in this list. He is a notorious internet troller focusing on cat websites and Facebook pages. He hides behind proxy servers and uses many aliases. He is a coward and an ornithologist. He loves birds and hates cats which is why he tells us he shoots them by the dozens on his land with a .22 rifle. He rants and raves and his writing remind me of a stuck long-playing record from the 1950s. Sadly, he is not a lone figure. There are others like him. He may not be real. He could be a work of fiction. Click here to read more.

Kids Killing Cats

Although there are several pages on PoC about kids killing cats, I’d like to refer to one, written by Elisa Black-Taylor years ago which at the time she refers to as one of the most important articles she had written. I agree because if kids are torturing cats to death, we have a major problem in society. The case she refers to is a black cat being burned by two girls. The cat survived. I have no idea what happened to the girls. Nothing I suspect. There is a kids killing cats tag as well (more articles). This case is a classic as well representing all casual cat cruelty and torture by kids anywhere.