by Michael
(London, UK)
Raja, Savannah Cat Shot by a Neighbor - photo from Nola.com - link provided in return (below)
I have just read the story of a Savannah cat shot by a neighbor. This is poignant for me. It happened in Louisiana. This US State is adjacent to Texas from where I have recently returned having visited Helmi and Ken Flick (Fort Worth). Helmi Flick is the world's best cat photographer. Arguably the world's best cat breeder and certainly the world's best Savannah cat breeder is Kathrin Stucki of A1 Savannahs and I visited the cattery while in America. So this story is not thousands of miles away from me but close to my heart. I feel for the cat, the human companion and I am angry at the idiot trigger happy neighbor who shot the cat. The cat came from a breeder in California as I understand it so it was not bred by A1 Savannahs who are based in Oklahoma (near Ponca City).
Raja, the Savannah cat that was shot was an indoor cat. He or she got out and was not heard of for two weeks. The cat owner's neighbor telephoned her saying he had shot at a cat and missed. Raja was in fact hit and was found on a nearby vacant lot with a hole in the head so the person who did the shooting was either (a) very close when he shot Raja (b) a fantastic shot or (c) plain lucky (from his perverted point of view).
The big question is this. Why did the neighbor, Rene Paul Desselle, shoot the cat? The reason he gave was that he thought Raja was a wild animal. Is that a reason? Positively not. Do Americans kill wild animals on sight? No. Was this animal a danger to people? No. A few days ago I was stroking an f2 Savannah and they are about the size of the well known Maine Coon cat. It must have been obvious that this cat posed little or no danger. He might even have recognized Raja as his neighbor's cat. Apparently he thought that the Savannah cat might harm his dog. Come on. This was a senseless act of cruelty born out of gun laws in the USA that encourages this sort of shoddy behavior. It was a malicious and idiotic act and having admitted to firing at the cat he has been charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal and illegal discharge of a weapon. It would seem that a conviction is likely.
I hope the book is thrown at him if he is found guilty. This sort of behavior makes me feel ill. The same kind of thing happened in Australia not long ago. They have some pretty open ended laws regarding shooting of feral cats. See: Bengal cat shot in Australia. I guess to read a story about a Savannah cat shot by a neighbor should not be that shocking. It probably happens all the time only it will be moggies or perhaps feral cats. The world is sad. And you can understand why people in America nearly always keep their cats permanently inside.
Source: Nola.com
