Twenty Dead Cats Found in Canal Near Metrocenter -- Would It be Worse if They Were Dogs?

This looked like a more serious story at first, with an initial e-mail coming from Phoenix police about 20 dead dogs in a canal near 29th Avenue and Dunlap. But, whew! Turns out it's just cats. The bodies of the animals had been in the water so long that their species was no...

By Ray Stern

October 13, 2009

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This looked like a more serious story at first, with an initial e-mail coming from Phoenix police about 20 dead dogs in a canal near 29th Avenue and Dunlap.

But, whew! Turns out it's just cats.

The bodies of the animals had been in the water so long that their species was no longer immediately recognizable. Cops believe they may have been drowned and are investigating.

In all seriousness, we care about both animals equally. But abused dogs probably make a bigger news story.

Either way, it's take a depraved mind to drown unwanted cats like this. At the least, take them to the shelter for the more-humane lethal injection. Five of the cats were just kittens that likely could have found an adoptive home.

Whoever did this might be in big trouble if caught. Not only is drowning a cat in a canal a probably felony under Arizona's animal cruelty law, but the offender could be charged with one felony count for each dead animal.

Maybe what Arizona needs is a safe haven law that applies not just to babies, but to animals, too.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.