(KCPW News) Utah animal welfare groups are offering rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for burying a kitten in concrete in Colorado City, Arizona, the twin city of Hildale, Utah. Barbara Williamson is with Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, where the kitten was brought on May 31st in an effort to save it.
“The kitten lived for a few days, we named him Thomas, but it became clear that his injuries were too severe and that the kindest that we could do at that point was let him go, so he was euthanized,” she explains.
The organization is offering a $5,000 reward for information. The Humane Society of Utah is offering an additional $5,000, and PETA’s reward is $2,500.
Noting that Colorado City residents have brought hundreds of feral cats to Best Friends Animal Society to be spayed or neutered and vaccinated, Williamson urges people not to make assumptions about them because of this cruelty case.
“This is a horrifying situation and it was clear animal abuse, but to say that everybody in Colorado City is cruel to animals is simply not fair,” she says.
As the Salt Lake Tribune reports, the kitten was discovered outside the home of an ex-member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who sees it as part of ongoing harassment he’s endured in the polygamist town. Those with information should contact the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona.
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