Man Arrested For Burning Kitten on Grill

AP/CNN | 7-16-02 | my favorite headache

[My Favorite Headache]

Man arrested for burning kitten on grill July 16, 2002 Posted: 4:03 PM EDT (2003 GMT)

A neighborhood friend of Sherry Scott holds the kitten they named 'Lucky,' in a recent handout photo.

LIBERTY, Missouri (AP) -- A man was arrested Tuesday for allegedly burning a kitten on a barbecue grill as several other people stood around and watched in amusement.

A witness pulled the scorched, 7-week-old tabby from the hot coals, but it was severely injured and had to be put to death, police said.

"They kept saying, `Meow, meow,' and they were poking at it with a stick," said Sherry Scott, who burned her hand grabbing the kitten.

Charles C. Benoit, 24, was charged with animal abuse, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. He was jailed on $10,000 bail.

Jim Roberts, spokesman for the Clay County prosecutor's office, said he does not expect anyone else to be charged, because no witnesses could identify the others.

Scott said that on Friday night, she saw 10 or 12 people at the barbecue grill in the courtyard of the apartment complex where she lives. Scott said she asked what they were cooking, and they said it was a cat. She said the group taunted her, daring her to rescue the cat.

She said the group scattered when she threatened to call police. She said she pulled the kitten from where it had been shoved into the coals at the back of the grill. Its tail, whiskers, fur, eyes and throat were scorched.

"I called him Lucky because I thought I got him out of there just in time," she said.

Scott said she and other residents stayed up Friday night trying to nurse the kitten with an eye dropper of milk. But animal control officers decided that because of its respiratory injuries and inability to swallow food, it had to be destroyed.

"If you would have seen him, you would have cried," said Sheri Simpson, one of the residents who helped care for the kitten.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

[Oak]

People that injure animals are of the same mind as those that prey on children and vunerable people. The single, stongest link that killers have in common is harming animals at some point in their life.

These are wicked people that we should protect our children from....

[Black Cat]

It's a big deal because dogs and cats love us and trust us with their lives with a purity which no human relationship can match. The betrayal of that trust, especially for "entertainment" is indicative of the fact that some people are beyond feeling any compassion whatsoever. And, IMHO, it's our compassion which more than anything else defines our humanity. A person who could look into the eyes of a trusting pet and do that is subhuman -- there is something lacking in his being, and that should worry all of us.

[Travis McGee]

The more I see this stuff, the less hope I have for our race.

Amen brother. It's time to fuel up the escape pod.

[dixie sass]

you are ill.

[dixie sass]

How do you know that GOD didn't give that animal a soul? You are ill. If I were with PETA or one of those organizations, I could debate that issue with you. All I know is what I have seen. I have seen animals grieve themselves to death over the death or loss of a beloved human. I have seen dogs in pain with tears coming from their eyes. I have seen the way an animal looks at the person it cares about, much the same way that a baby or small child looks at it parents.

[dixie sass]

How do you know that? Do you have some kind of clairvoyance or link to GOD that we don't?

[The KG9 Kid]

You have Freepmail, and no apology forthcoming.

[Chad Fairbanks]

I know an animal doesn't have one, in the human sense. They are not self aware, for starters.

Oh my... are you in for a surprise... karma can be a... ;0)

[dixie sass]

Ah Askel, I don't want to believe that we are headed or are at that state now. I want to believe that people are good and kind and believe in the value of all life.

How ironic, someone was outside my door and window here in the livingroom - the police just left - who are the souless ones - the animal or the person who left before the police could get here.

[dixie sass]

Yes Laz.

[RobRoy]

Did you know, Dixie, that the Bible has nothing good to say about man?

[RobRoy]

...other than he is fearfully and wonderfully made, and made in God's image. But we have free choice, and what we have ALL done with it is not good. Some of us do it in the shadows, and some, in a large group in front of one woman who protests and attempts to save the target of their sin.

That is why we all need Jesus.

[dixie sass]

No, RobRoy, I didn't. That is something that I will have to try and understand because we are all made in GOD's image aren't we?

[dixie sass]

If John Adams is correct, then where are we today? Are we already in the whirlpool that will be our destruction or do we have time to pull ourselves out? What a fearful thing to comtemplate.

[dixie sass]

Expolsive Ordnance Detachment Guy, doesn't that put us down to his level when we resort to the same tactics? I wouldn't stop you though, even though I know what you suggest to be wrong.

[RobRoy]

I want to thank you and others for taking the baton. I must admit I was saying some stuff in the beginning in the spirit of Rush Limbaughs "talent on loan from God." That is, I knew I would be missunderstood and, therefore, cause some strong emotions even though I was trying to be very accurate in what I said. I was shocked, however, at the hornets nest I stirred up.

I must admit I just got tired of the unbridled emotional responses. I'm amazed at some of the stuff STILL addressed to me at this late hour as well as the attacks you recieved.

I have found nothing you three said that I disagree with and, in fact think you said a lot of it better than I could have. For many people it doesn't matter, of course.

I stand by every word I wrote on this thread except, of course my missunderstanding of the word malevOlent.

To all, nighty night and thanks for one of the most exhilarating threads in which I have ever participated.

BTW, I only recieved one piece of hate mail. It was similar to the most negative responses here except lots and lots of profanity and name calling. It was very painfull.

I will need therapy.

[dixie sass]

I agree.

[fortheDeclaration]

What is the matter with the people in this country that they find mutilating helpless children and animals fun? Why?

Have you checked out what is on TV and the movies lately?

Just a sign of the times and how depraved we have become as a people.

Children being stolen from their homes, murdered by their own parents, animals tortured.

Wait and see what punishement this man will get.

[dougherty]

There sure are some sick people in this world. This sick b@stard and the evil idiots standing around laughing while watching need to be stuck onto a hot grill.

[RobRoy]

Sorry. I really didn't mean to set you up. I was referring to the fact that man has BECOME destructive, unfaithful, proud, greedy, selfish, "not good," unholy, disobedient and dishonest.

See:
Romans 1:29,30 3:12,16
II Tim 2:2
Isa. 53:6 64:6
Phil 2:21
Jer. 17:9

I firmly believe that whatever another man does, I am capable of.

I have given many here a great deal of fodder in that statement. But those serious about the spiritual realm revealed in the Bible know exactly what I am talking about.