ASHLAND — Ashland police have no suspects for an investigation into cats allegedly being shot with pellet guns — a case that has now gained the attention of a national advocacy group.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) issued a press release Tuesday that alerted Ashland residents of the dangers of letting “cats wander outside.”
PETA pointed to a video series first published in August meant to raise awareness surrounding abuse against stray cats around the country.
The local case that grabbed PETA’s attention remains under investigation by Ashland Police Division, said APD chief Dave Lay.
What happened?
Linda Yeater, 60, filed a police report on Jan. 27 following a couple-day stretch where she observed “odd” injuries on what she believes to be stray cats for which she provides food, water and shelter.
Yeater, who owns five of her own indoor cats, noticed a few cats wandering her neighborhood.
“Some people might see me as a crazy cat lady, but I’m just a responsible citizen that happens to respect the life outside beyond just ours,” she said.
So she made heated cat houses, and placed one on her covered porch and another in her backyard. The structures are designed to turn on a heating element once an animal crawls inside. She also set out food and water in electric bowls, to prevent them from freezing.
When the wind picked up, she installed a tarp to break the gusts. She then installed cameras to keep track of the cats and their food.
For a while, she regularly counted four different cats. (One of them, she said, had an owner. She recognized the breed.) So she was caring for three felines she believed were strays.
On Jan. 25, she observed one of the regulars — a male gray and white cat she named Stockings, because of his fur patterns — with an injury above its left eye.
Later that day, Yeater found Stockings dead on her porch.
‘Somebody’s hurt him’
For the next couple of days, she called some veterinarian friends to get opinions on what the injury above the left eye could have been. No one could offer any definitive answers, so she took action.
“It really started digging at me,” she said. “I was upset. ‘Somebody’s hurt him.’ I felt it in my gut.”
She took Stockings to Spring Meadow Veterinary Clinic on Jan. 27, where vets there performed an X-ray. Sure enough, the clinic’s report confirmed Yeater’s suspicion.
“Wound on top of head (small superficial in appearance, crusted blood) and on right side — mid lateral abdomen, dried blood in hair … X-ray shows (possible) bullet in abdomen — metal foreign body,” reads the report, which was prepared by Dr. Erica Keller.
Though the vet’s report reads “bullet,” the police have said the object appeared to be “the same shape as a pellet gun projectile.”
Yeater later learned the cat wasn’t a stray. Stockings had an owner who called him Sticks. The owner, Yeater said, contacted her through Facebook after finding an article about the incident.
“Apparently he was an indoor and outdoor cat, and he just bellows every night to go outside,” Yeater said.
The woman, who lives near Yeater, offered to pay for the vet bills, but Yeater declined.
“I’m just worried about getting whoever shot this cat,” she said.
But there might be others being shot at too, Yeater said.
One of them, a black cat, appeared in her video footage on Jan. 23 with a gash on the left side of its face. She hasn’t seen that cat since the 28th.
Another, a gray cat with dark stripes, appeared to have “some bloody spot around his neck.” On Feb. 5, she said the cat “looks fine now.”
The Ohio Supreme Court in October expanded the definition of companion animal under the Goddard’s Law. People can now be charged with a fifth-degree felony for the abuse of dogs and cats, including strays.
Lay said the police division has investigated these cases over the years, but it’s the first in Yeater’s neighborhood, which police described as “the area of Westview Avenue.”
Christopher Ferrell, for example, was sentenced to 12 months in prison, the maximum penalty under Goddard’s Law, for stomping on a cat, shooting it with a pellet gun and dumping it in the trash.
Ferrell also received an additional six months imprisonment for a weapons charge, tacked on during police’s investigation into animal cruelty.
“We investigate and screen (these cases) like any other case,” Lay said. “Once witnesses come forward, and we develop suspects, we typically file charges.”
In this case, detectives are looking at any videos and pictures available, as well as conducting interviews in the neighborhood, Lay said.
As of Feb. 7, police have no suspects.
Lay encouraged anyone with information to call the detective bureau at 419-289-1696 and ask for Kurt Dorsey. People can also call an anonymous tip line: 419-289-2697.
Raising awareness
Yeater is trying to raise awareness around the dangers of letting cats outside alone.
“This shouldn’t happen,” she said, adding that cats should stay indoors. If they go outside, owners should supervise.
It’s an opinion PETA’s leadership also shares.
“The great outdoors is simply not great for cats, who can be perceived as a nuisance and harmed in heartbreaking and horrific ways,” PETA Senior Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch said.
“PETA encourages all guardians to provide their cats with a happy and interesting indoor life safe from predators, speeding cars, and the many other dangers of the outdoor world.”
The organization has published resources for people interested in building “catios,” a patio for a cat, to keep felines safe while being outside.
Another resource, entitled the “250 Vital Things Your Cat Wants You to Know” is available for $10 on PETA’s website. The 170-page book offers guidance on everything from litter types to choosing the right cat-sitter.
You take away their ability to breed, you don’t have the extras.
Laura Bailey, The cat house feline sanctuary
While police investigate, Yeater is trying to make sure no other cats are harmed. She’s bought traps to capture the cats that regularly visit her house.
Once trapped, she plans to transport them to a clinic to get them neutered or spayed, vaccinated, dewormed and maybe chipped.
Yeater is doing what Laura Bailey wishes more people would do.
Bailey runs The Cat House Feline Sanctuary, a nonprofit shelter and adoption program for cats in Ashland County. Last year the organization took in about 125 cats and adopted nearly all of them. The shelter often operates at full capacity, she said.
In fact, the shelter is currently full, according to the voicemail message callers hear when calling the feline house.
But she wouldn’t be so busy all the time if owners, and caretakers, spayed and nuetered. That’s the answer to solving the stray and feral cat issue, she said.
And if you take care of feral cats by feeding and offering shelter — like Yeater does — Bailey encourages those people to, if they can, fix and vaccinate them.
“You take away their ability to breed, you don’t have the extras,” she said.
But locally, there aren’t many “affordable and convenient” spay or neuter programs. The closest clinics that offer the service at an affordable price are in Medina or Canton, Bailey said.
Yeater hopes to trap the cats that frequent her shelters and transport them to AlterClinic Animal Care in Canton. The clinic’s Trap-Neuter-Return program includes spay or neuter surgery, two vaccines, flea meds and an ear tip for $46.