Two 17-year-old boys charged with animal cruelty after cat set afire
Nursing mother healing from 3rd-, 4th-degree burns at city shelter
As a nursing mother cat continues to heal from severe burns, Baltimore police said Monday that two juveniles have been charged with animal cruelty.
Police spokesman Detective Kevin Brown said that two 17-year-old boys were charged with multiple accounts of animal cruelty, accused of dousing the cat with lighter fluid and setting it on fire three weeks ago.
According to police reports, officers were called the evening of Jan. 8 to the 3300 block of St. Ambrose Ave. in Central Park Heights. The owner of the cat told police that the animal had been set on fire by her grandson and a friend.
A witness told police that the suspects brought the family cat onto a rear, second-floor deck and put a milk crate on top of the pet. The suspects then poured lighter fluid on the cat through the openings in the crate, even as the witness told them not to burn the cat and reminded them that a burned cat could not nurse her kittens, police said. The suspects then lit a book of matches and dropped it into the crate.
According to the report, the cat screamed, knocked the milk crate over and leapt from the balcony, still on fire. The suspects poured a cup of water onto the burning crate and went back inside the home.
Police found lighter fluid on the balcony and the burned crate inside.
The cat, called Mittens, had three kittens when she was injured. She lost her ears and received third- and fourth-degree burns on her back and side, according to a veterinarian at the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, where she was being treated.
Mittens is the first abused animal brought to the shelter this year, said Debra Rahl, programs manager at BARCS.
The cat, which suffered burns on about 60 percent of her body, is in good condition and receiving pain medication and antibiotics, Rahls said.
"She's a very affectionate cat and is doing really well, eating well, and nursing and caring for her babies very well," she said. "She's a pretty amazing cat."
Mittens' whiskers and eyebrows were also burned off in the ordeal, Rahl said. Though she will likely keep her hearing, Mittens will probably lose parts of her ears, Rahl said.
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