Kittens drowned in backyard pool West Palm Beach, FL (US) Incident Date: Friday, Jun 20, 2003 County: Palm Beach Local Map: available Disposition: Alleged Case Images: 1 files available Alleged: » 8 year-old boy » 8 year-old boy

Case ID: 1556 Classification: Drowning Animal: cat View more cases in FL (US) Animal was offleash or loose Login to Watch this Case

Police were called when residents of a West Palm Beach neighborhood said they saw two 8-year-old boys drowning kittens in a backyard pool. 

Four of the kittens were saved from drowning, but one was not so lucky. Police took the boys into custody, but it was reported that neighbors think there may be a larger issue. 
 
School is out and kids are left with more time on their hands. Parker said how some of those kids are using that time has people concerned in at least one neighborhood.

Neighbor Jessica Becton told Parker she looked out her window and saw two boys playing in her pool, and then realized they had five kittens in the water.

"(The kittens) were trying to get out, coming up to the edge and trying to get out," Becton said. She said she told the boys to get the kittens out and they eventually did, except for one.

"They were getting them out but one had drowned. He left one in there purposely," Becton said. Parker asked her how she knew that and Becton said, "Because when I told him to go back and get it, he said he was going to leave it in there."

Becton told Parker she didn't think the boys were just playing because when the kittens tried to get out, the boys splashed water over their heads.

Parker said someone called police, who arrested the two boys on charges of animal cruelty. The surviving kittens were taken to Animal Care and Control to be placed in foster care.

Parker said that for one of the boys involved Friday, this allegedly wasn't the first kitten killing.

Parker said she found one of the boys' parents at home a few houses down. The boy's father, Elisma Soufrence, said his son didn't put the cat in the water.

Soufrence and the boy's mother, Alleen Soufrence, told Parker they blamed the other boy, who they said had killed two of their own kittens a few weeks ago. They said that because of that, they now keep the mother cat and remaining kitten inside.

Parker reported that the other boy's mother dropped him off at an elderly friend's house nearby and she said the boy apparently had no supervision when he and his friend found the tiny kittens and took them to the neighbor's pool.

Police took the two 8-year-olds to the police station, but Parker said they planned to return them to their parent's custody Friday night.

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