Danbury Teens Poison and Club to Death with Baseball Bats Twenty Cats; Another One Is Snared in a Leghold Trap

"... the unfortunate feline species seemed to be fair game for every kind of cruelty and neglect. They shot cats, threw things at them, starved them and set their dogs on them for fun." James Herriot, Cat Stories.

A group of diabolical teens in Danbury, Connecticut has either poisoned or clubbed to death with baseball bats at least twenty cats during the past six months, according to the Danbury Animal Welfare Society (DAWS). Numerous other cats have also been maimed by these juvenile monsters.

In addition to the dead cats, up to thirty live cats and kittens were discovered about two weeks ago at a Sheridan Road residence, including one who had a leg caught in a leghold trap. The owner of the property inherited three felines from the previous owner but over the years their numbers multiplied and then the teens started preying upon them.

The injured cat, a dark-gray striped cat named Simon, had his right hind leg operated on and put in a cast by veterinarian Cary Brenner. Since the leg was so badly infected it is not known even if the leg is broken. Dr. Brenner told the News-Times that both amputation and extermination are options in Simon's case. That is some way for a veterinarian, whose job it is to save lives, to talk! At the very least he should x-ray the leg in order to determine the extent of the damage and then plan a course of treatment. Under no circumstances should Simon be harmed in any way. A check of DAWS' web site yesterday revealed that Simon is, fortunately, still alive and up for adoption but that donations are needed to cover his medical bills. So far no one has been arrested in this case although officials believe that the trap was set on purpose.

Meanwhile, DAWS is trying to find homes for the fourteen cats which it took from the property. The kittens should not have any problems adjusting to domestication but relocation to either a rural area or to farmers' barns may be the only humane options available to the older cats. The News-Times is conspicuously silent as to the fate of the remaining sixteen cats found on the property which implies that officials have already exterminated them. If, on the other hand, they have been left on the property they direly need police protection.

Sooner or later this society is going to have to do something about these bands of juvenile hoodlums who not only maim and kill helpless animals but also commit all sorts of other atrocities. They set ablaze and harass homeless people for kicks. They destroy both public and private property through acts of arson, vandalism, and graffiti. They terrorize mass transit with their disorderliness and vulgarities and they appropriate every abandoned building and wooded area for their smoking, doping, drinking, and sexual exploits.

By far and away the worse offenders are middle-class white kids, especially those of Irish and Italian descent. Quite often their parents are policemen, firemen, politicians, and lions of the business world. Worst still, the fascist police not only shield them from prosecution but sometimes join in with them in the commission of these and other heinous crimes. Since these kids come from money, they operate with impunity. When Peter Harvey was first installed as attorney general of New Jersey he wasted no time in demonstrating his dishonesty when he stated that he did not understand why most juvenile offenders are either blacks or Hispanics. There is not any mystery here. People born into money are able to commit crimes from womb to tomb while the poor go to the gulags for so much as spitting in the street.