Case Details
Case Snapshot
Case ID: 12092
Classification: Choking / Strangulation / Suffocation
Animal: cat
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Animal was offleash or loose
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Eight cats suffocated to death in freezer
Rosebush, MI (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Aug 20, 2007
County: Isabella

Disposition: Open

Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

The Isabella County Sheriff's Department is investigating a horrific case of animal abuse. Deputies found eight barn cats dead in a freezer that was not operational.

The freezer was stored in a barn and was used for keeping rabbit food dry.

Investigators believe the cats suffocated after being put in the freezer.

The owner has no idea why someone may have done that to her cats.

If you have information on this case, please contact:
Sheriff's Dept
989-772-5911


Case Updates

Brenda Merren was horrified at what her son, Chas, discovered in her barn in Isabella Township Tuesday morning.

In a non-operational freezer that she uses to keep rabbit food dry, Chas, 18, found eight of the family's barn cats dead.

Now, Isabella County Sheriff's deputies are looking for the person or people who put the animals in the freezer.

"It almost looks like somebody is trying to send a message," Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski said. "By putting them in an abandoned freezer."

Deputies are interviewing Merren's neighbors to flesh out whether anybody saw anything suspicious or whether a neighbor might have had a problem with cats, the sheriff said.

The sight was shocking, to say the least, Merren said. "I've gone through every scenario in my head of how they got in there," she said. "There were three really big cats." Even if the c

ats got into the freezer by accident, the appliance did not lock and Merren believes they could have gotten out.

The animals were not all of Merren's barn cats, but were the friendliest, Mioduszewski said.

Since there was no obvious sign of injury, Merren believes the cats were either poisoned or bludgeoned.

"You couldn't put eight live cats in a freezer," she said. "Unless there was more than one person."

Merren and her family are trying to cope with the loss; although the cats were kept in the barn, they were family pets that were spayed, neutered and had vaccinations, she said.

Many of the cats were family pets for five or more years, she said.

The cats that were approachable were the ones targeted -- there are three feral cats remaining in the barn, Merren said.

Police believe someone went into Merren's barn at her residence in the 3000 block of East Rosebush Road between the afternoon hours on Monday and 11 a.m. Tuesday, the sheriff said.

Isabella County Animal Control has offered the sheriff's department assistance in the case, Supervisor Val McCullough said.

"It's absolutely horrible," McCullough said. "It's inhumane to put any animal down by their own hands.

"It's like taking the law into your own hands. You can't do that."

Willful or malicious killing of an animal is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine, Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick said.

What is commonly known as animal cruelty, which does not involve the death of an animal, is a 93-day misdemeanor also punishable by a $1,000 fine, Burdick said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's department at 989-772-5911.
Source: The Morning Sun - Aug 23, 2007
Update posted on Aug 24, 2007 - 3:44AM 

References

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