We are told that, in America, the mortality rate among whites aged between 25 to 34 years from drug overdoses has increased fivefold from 1999 to 2014. Among people aged 35 to 44 the rate has trebled. It would seem, that drugs are killing a rising number of poor, white Americans and the following two cases of cat abuse could well be due to drug-taking or at least they are associated with drug-taking.
In the first case, police in Fresno, California arrested 24-year-old Cody High. He had a backpack. Inside the backpack was a cat tightly and extensively bound with black tape around the legs, face, nose and neck. The police thought that the cat was dead but when they removed the tape from the cat’s face he began to breathe. Animal control officers took the cat to the vet who made tge common sense observation that the cat would have died but for the intervention of the police. The cat is microchipped so they are fairly confident of reuniting him to his rightful owner (if that is appropriate). We don’t know the cat’s name at this stage.
The alleged perpetrator’s mother admitted that her son had a drug problem. To me this does seem to be the sort of abnormal, deviant behaviour which is driven by drug-taking. The picture below shows Cody and the cat with the tape still on his legs.
Booking photo of Cody High
Posted by Clovis Police Department, California on Sunday, January 17, 2016
Bound legs of cat.
Posted by Clovis Police Department, California on Sunday, January 17, 2016
Cody lied about his name but apparently admitted that the tape came from him. His mother claimed that he had found the rucksack with the cat inside but this does not seem to be credible because as mentioned her son had admitted that it was his tape. Cody was on felony probation for drug violations. His mother says that he loves animals and would never harm them.
The second case also concerns Californians. Two people were arrested after it was discovered that a cat with her paws bound together with electrical tape was inside the car. The cat’s name is Lily. The car was parked behind a closed business in Santa Clarita, California. The occupants of the car were a 26-year-old woman and her 23-year-old boyfriend. They were found to be in possession of drugs. It is believed that the owner of the cat is the 26-year-old woman.
She said that she tied her cat’s legs together with black tape because “it had been scratching”.
The police found the cat upside down inside a cat carrier, meowing loudly, obviously in discomfort. The cat’s owner is now facing animal cruelty charges. Lily has been turned over to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control. They are also investigating the case. Lilly apparently is a very nice cat with a wonderful disposition.
You wonder whether, once again, if drug-taking had some bearing on the behaviour of this couple. Their behaviour seems bizarre and quite inappropriate. It’s the kind of behaviour from a person who has lost his/her bearings and moral compass or any sense of decency.
To return to the increase in deaths by drug-taking in America, research indicates that this only concerns the white population. Drug deaths among African-Americans and Hispanics have, by contrast, fallen quite sharply. It is believed that the reason is that there is a reluctance on the part of doctors to prescribe painkillers to patients from these groups in case they become addicted. Conversely, the archetypal poor white victim of death by drug taking was often a blue-collar worker who had been prescribed painkillers to cope with injury and then subsequently drifted into addiction which then led to death.
Sources: Times Newspaper, Daily Mail and Fox News.
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