Deceased Cat
Aug. 28, 2014 By Michael Florio
A stray cat was found dead on an Astoria Street Sunday with its “ribs smashed,” cement lodged in its throat and cuts to its tail.
The cat was found by a resident on 21st Avenue, between 33rd and 35th Streets, just before midnight. Paul Santell, a cat lover, made the grisly discovery.
The police are now investigating the incident and are in talks with Santell, who reported the crime.
Santell, who was releasing a stray cat in the area Sunday night, said he saw a group of five or six men in a circle where the dead cat was later found. While he did not see the men actually do anything to a cat, he said their behavior was suspicious.
Santell described the group as ‘neighborhood punk types,’ and felt wary releasing the cat he had near them.
“They were laughing, joking and moving their arms around… being very loud, almost as if they were celebrating,” Santell said.
When Santell was about to release his cat, a woman who feeds another colony of cats came running over screaming, “I think it’s one of my cats, he’s dead,” according to Santell.
Santell said he knew the dead cat, which he had named Bobby.
“He looked like he belonged to someone at one point,” he said. “He didn’t move as fast as the other feral cats, and was much more trusting.”
Santell said Bobby would often meow at him and cry for food, and even tried following him home once.
“He was very sweet,” he said.
Santell said he will be is meeting with detectives and is hopeful they will use security cameras to catch those responsible.
The ASPCA is examining the cat’s body.
“This makes me sick to my stomach,” he said. “They were torturing one of the cats, and seemed to be having a great time doing so. It’s disgusting.”
Santell and other residents distributed fliers on Tuesday, which offers a reward for information that leads to an arrest.
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9 Comments
Cruelty towards animals is one of the strongest indicators of violent and sociopathic behavior in adults, so even if you think covering a story like this is some kind of bizarre cat lover conspiracy for getting money from people (TNR Researcher?) the fact that its happening in our neighborhood is unsettling and newsworthy.
What the author doesn’t seem to be aware of is the fact that there has been a lot of attention around cats being killed in Astoria lately. Creepy stuff:
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/cat-lovers-fear-astoria-strays-article-1.1570155
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2014/04/mary_witty_astoria_7_feral_outdoor_cats_missing_tnr.php
Please people… if you lived in the countryside no one would look twice. Also, why would astoria post chose to put a picture of this online?
I hope they catch and incarcerate these psychos. This is heartbreaking.
How odd it is too that they can NEVER find the culprits of these dastardly acts. But somehow, someone is always right there to “rescue” the cat just in the nick of time (usually). And it’s usually always “found” by someone who is associated with some TNR (trap, neuter, re-abandon) animal-care program — one usually struggling for funding by donations (because someone can’t make their car-payment).
If you want to find out who did this look no further than those who are exploiting injured, suffering, or dead animals in the media for their own financial gain. It’s the new money-making opportunity for the last three decades. That cat was going to die in the streets anyway, what a waste if you can’t rake-in a few dozen $thousands in donations from exploiting its suffering or death. Not to mention those online “news” sites that also get revenue from running the story. Exploit unwanted suffering or dead cats = $Ka-$CHING! Laughing all the way to their banks.
If you want to arrest someone for the death of that cat you need look no further than Paul Santell who let that cat roam free. He is in direct violation of every last animal-abandonment, animal-neglect, and animal-endangerment law. All those laws put in place precisely to stop these kinds of things. He and all like him that promote the idea of expendable and disposable free-roaming cats need to be spending a few years behind prison-bars and paying a hefty fine.
Oh wait. I forgot … You have to throw cats out into the streets with Becky Robinson’s TNR programs so they get ran-over by cars or attacked by other cats or other animals. Then when you find them suffering to death from TNR’s “humane death by attrition”, you can parade them in the media to ask for even more $millions in donations to line your own pockets. This is why HSUS and SPCA loves TNR so much too. You can’t exploit suffering cats for $millions if you humanely euthanize them first! Oh no, you need them to die in the streets if you are going to get any money from cats. It’s the ONLY value they have now — to suffer to death so those who exploit them can get wealthy.
As long as they have an unending supply of cats suffering to death in the streets to parade in the media to ask for donations and to manipulate their community around them, they get to remain laughing all the way to their banks. Don’t believe me? Check out Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES financial reports on their own website, and even what the “Better Business Bureau” says about them. They don’t even qualify to be a reputable charity organization. bbb D0T org SLASH charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/financial They don’t even qualify to be a reputable charity while sitting on over $6M in assets with more than a $7M income this year.
For another good laugh check out how much Becky and all her friends pay themselves with everyone else’s money. bbb D0T org SLASH charity-reviews/national/animal-protection/alley-cat-allies-in-bethesda-md-107/governance-and-staff
It’s the new money-making scam! Torture cats to death with TNR and then as they die-off from “attrition” exploit them in the media for even more money! You too can become a deceptive, manipulative, and morally reprehensible millionaire by following this animal-torturing business-model invented by Becky Robinson!
My mistake. Carry on.
That’s NO JUSTIFICATION FOR THEIR BEHAVIOR! TO STOMP AND KILL! NEXT TIME WHAT IF THAT WAS A BABY????
Sad for the cats but really… These people are feeding stray cats and they end up pissing and popping all over the place? Cat lovers…
Anyone who does this to animals will do this to a human being. People like this need harder sentences, not just a FINE. Like jailtime and 3 years of community service working in an animal shelter to learn how loving animals can be.
My heart sank reading this.
There is clearly a psychopath on the loose out there. He won’t stop at violence against helpless cats, that’s for sure.