Animal Abuse Cases - Details

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Cat hung from window with rope - (Winnipeg, MB - CA)

Crime Date: 07/27/2003
Case Status: Open

*Suspect(s) Unknown - Need your help!

Case Report

"I ran outside, her whole face had hemorrhaged. She had blood coming from her nose and mouth. Her eyes were watering. It looked like she was crying," said Debbie LeBlanc, owner of a cat found dangling from its neck from her first-floor kitchen window.  LeBlanc was alerted to the situation by a neigbor who had called her.

LeBlanc grabbed a steak knife and urgently cut away the yellow, poly cord that was tightly fastened around the neck of her 1 1/2-year-old cat, China, at one end and lodged in between the window pane and frame on the other.

The animal's hind paws were barely touching the ground -- if at all, LeBlanc said.

"It took a couple of minutes (to free the cat). I was crying while I was doing it," she said.

Another cat was killed in a similar manner within the housing complex several years ago, said LeBlanc. The animal was found dead, a rope around its neck, hanging from the play structure.

Winnipeg police are investigating yesterday's incident. While they deal with the odd animal cruelty case, "hanging a cat from a window is an unusual one," said Staff Sgt. Randall Benoit.

Officers took China, who was foaming at the mouth, to be checked by a veterinarian. The animal was recovering at home last night with abrasions and a swollen neck, LeBlanc said.
"The rope was as tight as it could be," said LeBlanc, who is convinced somebody wanted to kill her cat. "It's a hate crime. You don't do it by accident. That's what gets me the worst -- it was intentional."

LeBlanc said she doesn't know where the rope came from but saw a young neighbourhood boy flee her yard. The cat would have been there for five minutes at the most.

"She's a beautiful cat. She's like a princess," said the stay-at-home mom, who figures the gruesome act was a random attack and doesn't believe the culprit intended to send her some sort of message.

LeBlanc said she's planning to move to another home with her two young kids, who witnessed the ordeal.

"What's next -- one of the children in the neighbourhood?" the 39-year-old said.

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