Whether we as human beings are animal lovers or not, I'm certain caring and compassionate people of all walks of life have been mortified at the horrifying massacre of cats that happened in March, 1997 at
Noah's Ark Foundation in Fairfield, Iowa, USA.
As animal lovers, we have told our friends, our acquaintances and our families of the horrors those 60+ cats experienced in Iowa that horrible, horrible night in March. These friends, acquaintances and members of our families have in turn passed along the information to their friends, acquaintances and families. Thousands of pet pages around the world have provided links to various pages telling of this story. And all of that is wonderful, just wonderful! The more people who become aware of this tragic event, the more people will know of the abuse and animal cruelty that
can happen in any town or city, no matter how small or big.
Lisaviolet of
Lisaviolet's Cathouse and
Madlyn of have pored hours and hours into preparing their pages and setting up a petition. I quote from Madlyn's update:
"On July 15th, Justin Toben plea-bargained to third degree burglary charges and agreed to testify against Chad Lemansky and Daniel Myers. There is a possibility of a fourth perpetrator, the County Attorney declined to identify this suspect. No charges have been filed but an investigation is being conducted.
"As a result of the plea bargain, he faces sentencing August 19th to 8-18 months on a youthful offender program (which includes psychiatric evaluation and counseling, housearrest, monitoring, etc.) three to five years probation, and 100-200 hours of community service which may include service at an animal shelter, possibly one other than Noah's Ark. He will be required to pay fines, court costs and restitution.
"The trial for Daniel Myers and Chad Lemansky, the other two alleged perpetrators, has been postponed until Nov. 12, 1997. Lisaviolet is taking a small vacation and will reinstate the Noah's webpage in August, she promises we will come back more passionately than ever! We have several more months now to work ever harder for stiff sentences for the other two alleged perpetrators, and possibly a fourth suspect will be identified and charged as well."
So one individual got off with plea-bargaining. There are two more, possibly a third alleged murderer and torturer of these cats. Will they plea-bargain, too? I'm outraged and sickened. And we all should be! Cruel abuses against animals are repeatedly reported in the news media. It
must stop - the deliberate violence against
any living creature has been proven to gradually move on to deliberate violence against humans. These predators of innocent and defenseless animals actually
enjoy inflicting agonizing pain to their victims. And sadly, they move on to human lives when the thrill of a small animal's suffering isn't the surge of power and control they once experienced.
As I mentioned, spreading the word about this nightmare for the Iowa cats
is wonderful. But that is not enough. In the meantime, more torture and abuse happens. Why? Because these animals have no voice. They are the mute members of our society. Only we, the humans who love and care for any living being, can speak for them. We must let our legislators know that we
cannot and will not stand by watching abusers be sentenced with small fines and community service work for the punishment of the violent crime committed. This is a slap on the wrists, a "Tsk-tsk, bad person!" punishment. We must push for heavier fines, long term imprisonment and psycharitic counseling for the monsters who live amongst us.
Make sure all animals have a chance to enjoy happy, safe and loving lives among humans, to have rights, to have a voice.
Speak for them - give them a voice through yours.
