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Case ID: 17285

Classification: Mutilation/Torture

Animal: cat

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Kitten found with ears and tail cut off
Seguin, TX (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 21, 2010
County: Guadalupe

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 1 files available

Alleged:
» Gerardo Herrera
» Pedro Herrera

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

A 19-year-old Mexican national has been arrested on felony animal cruelty charges and his brother is still being sought for reportedly cutting off a kitten's ears and tail.

Seguin Police reported Gerardo Herrera was booked into Guadalupe County Jail Tuesday on an allegation of animal cruelty involving torture.

Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Darrell Hunter set bail on Herrera at $25,000 and ordered him held for federal immigration officials because he is believed to be in this country illegally.

If proved at trial, animal cruelty involving torture is a state jail felony punishable by six months to two years incarceration in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000.

His cousin, Pedro Herrera, 18, is being sought on the same charge.

An investigation by detectives Curle Price and Billy Perkins was launched after Officer Martina Wissmann was dispatched to Norma Sanchez's home in the 800 block of North Milam at about 8 p.m. on Sept. 14 to investigate a report of an injured kitten.

During their investigation, Wissmann and the detectives learned that someone had cut the kitten's ears and tail off. Sanchez had got the cat for her son just three weeks before.

The owner of the kitten reported she'd noticed two young men sitting at a picnic table and drinking beer in the backyard of a nearby home, and Wissmann checked in that yard and found fresh blood on the ground near the picnic table -- and the cat's tail in a nearby trash can.

Sanchez reported her family had previously had three other cats go missing in the neighborhood, but thought they'd just wandered off. Now, she said, she's not so sure.

"I'd never thought anything of it until we saw what happened to Tiger -- this is a nice neighborhood and the people are nice," she said. "I don't want to be ugly, but my poor little cat ... what they did to this cat was uncalled for."

Sanchez, a former Guadalupe Regional Medical Center employee who has been out of work for two years due to injury, didn't have money to treat the kitten.

She brought it to Seguin Animal Hospital, and Dr. Larry Helms treated the animal.

"They were so sweet," Sanchez said.

It might need more treatment -- Sanchez isn't certain -- but she hopes not.

"I haven't worked in two years, and we're barely making it," Sanchez said.

Police identified the two men who had been at the table as the Herreras.

Gerardo Herrera was questioned, reportedly admitted his part in the incident in an interview with detectives and said Pedro Herrera had also hurt the kitten.

Price said the case was uncommonly brutal.

"I've seen animals shot, hung and run over," Price said. "But I've never seen one mutilated like that. I'm an animal lover, and I can't understand why anyone would do that to a kitten."

The explanation Herrera offered was a thin one, Price said.

"They were drinking and it got out of control, and that came into their heads for some reason," Price said. "That's all I could get from him."

Sanchez said she appreciated the effort the police department put into finding out what had happened.

"Some people would make it sound like, 'It was just a cat.' But this was a crime," Sanchez said. "Animals have no voice; no way of communicating with us, and we must take care of them. Right now, Tiger's still hurting. He'll barely let us touch him. I want to thank the police. I'm glad they caught him, and hope they find the other one."

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