Alley Cat Allies Director Writes to Patch

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch received the following email on July 6.

Other than addressing some minor grammatical issues, the wording seen below was written as is.

...

As the only national organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats, we are deeply disturbed and dismayed by comments concerning cruelty to cats made at a recent Baldwin Township Board of Commissioners meeting ( June 6, 2012). The article quotes a citizen as publicly stating that he should be allowed to shoot cats and that he has murdered two cats himself by drowning them in his swimming pool.

Let's set the record straight. Killing cats is cruelty to animals, and it's illegal in all 50 states. Inhumane, brutal acts like the ones this man publicly boasted about committing are against the law, and in Pennsylvania, they are punishable with a first-degree misdemeanor penalty for animal cruelty.

We applaud the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society for launching an investigation. We can report that the resident has since retracted his statement and says that he did not kill cats in his neighborhood(, according to a representative from the humane society).

Still, the haunting image and damaging sentiments he has put into the public discussion about how to live with cats illustrate the very reason we have these laws. Threats to animals' lives must be taken seriously, and violent acts against them must be prosecuted. There are humane ways to live peacefully with cats—violence is not an option. For more information, please visit our site at www.alleycat.org.

Britt Cocanour, Executive Director, Alley Cat Allies (info@alleycat.org)

...

If you have a complaint, want a topic covered, want to publicly congratulate someone or have something else to say altogether, please send an email to baldwin-whitehall@patch.com.

The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch will not accept anonymous letters. Each letter will be published along with the name of the person who sent the letter and that person's email address.

Note: The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch, in certain cases, may choose not to publish some letters.

 ---

Follow the Baldwin-Whitehall Patch on Facebook and Twitter.

Sign up for the daily Baldwin-Whitehall newsletter.