OHS charges man with beating pregnant cat to death with tire iron
Ottawa Humane Society
Monday, June 25, 2007
OTTAWA, Ont. (25 June, 2007) — A farmer in North Gower has been charged with animal cruelty after beating a cat to death with a tire iron.Investigators from the Ottawa Humane Society (OHS) charged Frank Carwardine at his home on June 20, after they received a case report from Ottawa Police Services with information on a father daughter domestic dispute at the farm’s residence. The report included a statement from the daughter that she witnessed her father pick up her cat — a year old brown tabby — and strike it numerous times with a tire iron until it died.
OHS investigators executed a search warrant and attended the Carwardine property on June 7 to recover both the tire iron and the body of the cat. They were unable to locate either, but in the course of the visit, Mr. Carwardine admitted he had killed the cat by striking it with a tire iron. Investigators returned to the vicinity of the property on June 8, where they exhumed the body of the cat and took it back to the OHS for a post-mortem examination. In the course of that examination, a veterinarian discovered the cat was pregnant with four kittens at the time of its death.
Mr. Carwardine has been charged with the offence of killing an animal that was lawfully owned by someone else and for wilfully causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal. While the charges are serious, the consequences are not.
If convicted, Mr. Carwardine will face a maximum penalty of $2000, six months in jail and a maximum of two years prohibition from owning or caring for animals; however, maximum sentences are rarely meted out, even in the most heinous cases. “Though this case is disturbing in the extreme, unfortunately the penalties won’t fit the crime,” says OHS Executive Director, Bruce Roney. “We desperately need adequate animal cruelty legislation in this country that will address horrific stories like this and provide justice for animal victims.”
Although, legally mandated to enforce the animal cruelty provisions of the Criminal Code of Canada, the OHS does not receive any government funding or any funding from any animal welfare group to perform this essential work.
For media enquiries, contact:
Tara Jackson, Communications Manager
(613) 725-3166 ext. 261
A word about the Ottawa Humane Society:The Ottawa Humane Society is a registered charity founded in 1888. The Society works in and with the community to provide leadership in the humane treatment of all animals, to address the causes of animal suffering, to encourage people to take responsibility for their animal companions, and to provide care for animals who are neglected, abused, exploited, stray, or homeless. Print this page
