Cat trapped, left to die in +90� temperatures Aurora, CO (US) Incident Date: Tuesday, Jul 4, 2000 County: Arapahoe Local Map: available Disposition: Convicted Abuser/Suspect: Lance Kraft

Case ID: 4673 Classification: Mutilation/Torture Animal: cat View more cases in CO (US) Animal was offleash or loose Abuse was retaliation against animal's bad behavior Login to Watch this Case

Lance Kraft, 45, reportedly trapped a cat in a wire cage and let it die in temperatures that were over +90� resulting in the cat dying an excruciating death.

Judge Mary Dulacki said, "That cat was cooked in a cage." He was convicted of illegal trapping, animal cruelty, improper care of a confined animal and endangering an animal and sentenced to a day in jail. He was also ordered to pay $500 in fines to a non-kill cat shelter and pay $394 in restitution to the family of the cat he killed. Nine days in jail were suspended provided he has no trouble with the law and refrains from trapping for one year.

He was charged with the July 4th death of Taz, an 18-month old house cat. Taz died during a near-record string of 17 consecutive 90 plus degree days. The cat was covered in blood trying to escape the cage and left patches of gray and white hair on the cage.

It is legal to trap cats with a $10 license. The requirement states there should be enough food to protect the cat after he has been trapped.

Kraft testified he started trapping cats in 1993 and has caught well over 200 at his home in the 19000 block of East 19th Avenue. The cats were defecating in a backyard sandbox used by his wife's home day care business and were trashing the yard.

The jury found Kraft's license had expired and he did not do enough to protect the cat once it had been trapped.

He said Taz was the only cat he ever found dead in one of his traps.

Kraft suggests perhaps someone else put the cat in his trap after it had died.

Neighborhood Map

For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.

Back to Top

Add this case to:

Del.icio.us

|

Digg

|

Furl

|

References

The Denver Post - Nov 30, 2000

« CO State Animal Cruelty Map

Not sure what these icons mean? Click here.

Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.