Case Snapshot
Case ID: 14001
Classification: Unclassified
Animal: cat
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Thursday, Jun 26, 2008

County: Henrico

Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Keith Copi

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Henrico County authorities have charged a local exterminator with three counts of animal cruelty.

Keith Copi, with Critter Control, was charged after an investigation by Henrico Police Animal Protection Unit and Commonwealth's Attorney's Office.

A recent land-clearing operation behind the offices of local Fox affiliate WRLH at 1925 Westmoreland St. disrupted a colony of feral cats that have lived in the area for decades, area businesspeople said.

The local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals claims the cats were killed inhumanely as part of a cleanup operation.

The decision to charge the exterminator "sends a clear message that our community values deeply the lives of feral cats and other companion animals," said Robin Starr, chief executive director for the SPCA.

Copi faces up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine for each of the three charges, Henrico police said.


Case Updates

A pest-control operator will have to get his license re-certified but is not facing jail time after being convicted yesterday of misdemeanor animal-cruelty charges in Henrico County.

But Keith Copi, who operates the Richmond-area Critter Control franchise, said after court that the convictions further cloud animal-cruelty laws and will make it difficult for homeowners and businesses to deal with nuisance animals.

"You'd be better off trying to get rid of a homeless person camping in your yard than having to deal with a stray cat," Copi said.

He said that state laws defining so-called companion animals are so inclusive that animals ranging from house mice to snakes might be covered by state animal-protection laws.

Copi received three 12-month jail terms, all suspended, and was fined $250 for each of the three cats he gassed.

He acknowledged in Henrico General District Court yesterday that he gassed the cats he trapped in June in a parking area behind WRHL Fox 35 television studios in the 1900 block of Westmoreland Road. He said he was not aware of an emergency law passed in February banning the use of a gas chamber in killing companion animals; nor did he know that feral cats must be euthanized by a veterinarian.

John Rockecharlie, Copi's lawyer, argued that Copi was not charged under the new gas-chamber law but under broader animal-protection statutes that address animal cruelty and unnecessary killing.

"It wasn't cruel and it was necessary because it was going to happen anyway," Rockecharlie said.

He produced documents showing that the American Veterinary Medical Association endorses euthanasia using carbon dioxide chambers; and testimony yesterday showed that most feral cats brought to the Henrico County animal shelter are eventually euthanized by injection when they aren't adopted.

But Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Heidi Barshinger said that Copi clearly violated the law, ignoring the legal status of feral cats as companion animals and killing them on the spot using a gas chamber inside his truck.

"He more than anyone else should know" the cats were protected, she said. "What he did was not legal euthanasia; it was illegal killing."

Copi said the three animals he trapped were violent and clearly unadoptable and he testified that by euthanizing on the spot, he avoided subjecting the cats to the prolonged cruelty of the traps and driving them around inside his truck.

Station executives testified yesterday that they wanted to remove the cats because they had become a nuisance but were told by the Henrico Police Animal Control Unit that the county could not immediately take care of the problem.

Copi then took on the job after he gained a written statement from animal control that he could "humanely trap and remove" the cats.

"Nobody said anything about killing them," Barshinger said after court yesterday.

More than 50 animal-protection advocates attended the trial and Robin Starr, executive director of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said that the convictions are a significant victory that helps draw attention to laws designed to humanely treat animals.

"This sends a clear message that people can't simply kill feral cats or other companion animals or treat them cruelly," she said. The SPCA has organized efforts to trap the cats, give them shots and return them to the site or adopt them.

Copi said yesterday that he charged WRHL $409 for five days of trapping and disposed of the dead cats in a dumpster.

Sgt. Jimmy Frank, of Henrico's animal-protection unit, said yesterday that the county shelter will trap stray animals for free and there is no charge for euthanizing them.

"Sometimes it takes us a while to get to them. We do the best we can with what we have," he said.
Source: InRich.com - Aug 15, 2008
Update posted on Aug 15, 2008 - 9:59AM 
A pest-control operator charged with killing three feral cats faces possible jail time when he goes on trial today in Henrico County General District Court.

Keith Copi, who operates the local office of Critter Control, apparently is the first person to come under an emergency provision of state law that prohibits killing a companion animal using a gas chamber.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine signed the measure, which had been sought for years by animal-rights activists, on Feb. 22. It was effective immediately. On June 23, according to arrest warrants, Copi gassed the cats.

The emergency law is directed primarily at county animal wardens.

Copi, 39, of Chesterfield County, faces up to three years in jail on charges of animal cruelty.

Henrico brought the charges after lobbying from animal-rights activists who have fought to save a feral cat colony behind the WRLH Fox 35 studios on Westmoreland Street.

WRLH hired Copi to assist in capturing the cats as part of an effort to bulldoze and clear its property of the colony.
Source: InRich - Aug 14, 2008
Update posted on Aug 15, 2008 - 9:02AM 

References

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