Stray cat shot by police officer after being reported as rabid is cleared and recovering at the shel

A Maine cat is recovering after being shot by a police officer who mistakenly thought he was rabid, and the woman who has been feeding him and got him medical care will give him a home.

A Gorham, Maine police officer shot Clark Kent after being called in to help an animal control officer who’d gotten a report that the neighborhood stray had attacked a 7 year old child on August 20. When the animal control officer was unable to catch the cat, who was thought to be rabid, the officer was brought in. Concerned that Clark was rabid and a danger, the officer shot and wounded him. The 7 year old girl’s father called animal control about Clark and was the person who said the cat appeared to be rabid. The man said his daughter had been bitten or scratched by the cat.

Deb Webb has feed Clark Kent from her back deck for three years, and she took the injured cat for medical care.

Clark was found not to have rabies after the 10 day mandatory waiting period and he is recovering from his injuries at the Animal Refuge League, in Westbrook. He was hiding on his own and without treatment for four days before he was found and got help. He is currently being monitored by an othopedic surgeon.

A representative from the ARL says the usual procedure wold have been to trap the cat rather than shoot him.

http://www.lifewithcats.tv/2014/09/...bid-is-cleared-and-recovering-at-the-shelter/

 

You know sometimes I blame the dispatchers for these incidents and not the cops involved. In this situation the cop was told apparently be a dispatcher that the cat had rabies, wrong.

This reminds me of the recent situation where a dispatcher told cops that there was a young man with a gun in the park. When the cops got there they mistook the toy gun the boy who was no more then twelve for a real gun, because the dispatcher failed to tell them what the caller of the 911 call said that they suspected the gun wasn't real. The boy was shot and killed, then the cops got raked over the coals for it. Sorry, for me the dispatcher was in the wrong.

The same way it was the person who was giving the information to the cops was in the wrong in this situation with the cat, I am just glad the cat survived. Yes, its easy to say proper procedures dictate that a cat be trapped, but thanks to the report they got the cops believed wrongly that the cat was dangerous. Seriously, I think something needs to also be done about the type of information that is being given out on these calls, in other words make sure the information is precise and that all information is given.