Police, Humane Officials Concerned After Disturbing Discovery In Fawn Twp.

FAWN TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- They are helpless animals, defenseless creatures.

Even so, someone - for whatever reason - decided to hang a cat, probably while it was alive.

At the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, where they care for abandoned animals and investigate abuse, they're appalled.

"It rattles the cages so to speak of anybody here," said David Janusek, of the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society. "That's animal welfare, to see somebody would do this to a helpless animal."

"It's a sickening sight to see," said Fawn Township Police Chief Tim Mayberry. "Something we don't see every day. When you see something like that, it's very alarming."

Fawn Township Police say the cat was found hanging from a tree in a wooded area.

Shoe strings were tied around a tree, the cat's neck and legs. It's believed the cat was hung alive and left to suffer.

"It's very sickening," said Chief Mayberry. "What kind of person would harm an animal like that? Ask yourself the question. How would they treat another human being?"

Statistics from the Humane Society show that 70 percent of animal abusers commit other crime.

Forty percent of animal abusers commit violent crime against people, 30 percent of child abusers had committed animal cruelty and nearly 40 percent of those who assaulted women had a history of animal abuse.

"Someone who tortures an animal or abuses an animal, many time statistics show that parlays into human abuse, child abuse, so on and so forth," added Janusek.

RELATED LINKS:
More Fawn Township News
More Reports by Paul Martino

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter