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Cats in Cyprus College being ‘killed’? Questions arise as $1000 reward announced for info on suspects
Cats living at the Maintenance Facility Parking Lot 6 of Cypress College, or the North Colony cats, are the ones allegedly being “killed.”
Community cats in Cyprus College are being ‘killed’, claims a website allegedly set up for the wellbeing of the felines of the California academic space. The site also offers a $1000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the employee(s) supposedly killing the cats.
The cats, who were long cared for by students and others on campus, are now the center of a bitter dispute which involves allegations of abuse and even a police case, KTLA reported.
As per the website for the cats of Cyprus College, many have been found dead with signs of blunt force trauma. The site also alleges that employees of the college, acting under directions of President Dr. Scott Thayer, are involved in harming the animals, removing food and water kept for them.
Further, the site notes "…the inhumane treatment of cats by destroying their water dishes on exceedingly hot days continues, in fact, it has gotten worse and employee violence has escalated from violence against cats to violence against female students who are trying to help the cats."
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Cats living at the Maintenance Facility Parking Lot 6 of Cypress College, or the North Colony cats, are the ones being killed, the site claims. There is apparently another colony on the south side of the campus.
Hindustan Times has been unable to independently verify the claims made by the site for cats of Cypress College.
News of Cypress College cats spreads on social media
The news of the alleged treatment of cats at California's Cypress College has begun to spread on social media. On a Facebook page called LA Underground Cat Network - Cat Rescue Wing, a person wrote “If anyone can help and bring awareness to what the maintenance department is doing at Cypress college to community cats please do.”
SoCal Cat Rescue Network Facebook page shared the KTLA report on the deaths of the cats, and a person commented “Anyone with information. $1,000.00 reward, on the killing of cats and missing cats from Cypress College.”
The Cypress Police Department has urged anyone with information to contact them at (714) 229-6600. The investigation is currently ongoing. There has been no official statement from Cypress College on the matter that Hindustan Times could find.
What California law says about killing cats
California law on animal cruelty, outlined in California Penal Code [CPC] §597(a) says “a person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of a crime punishable pursuant to subdivision (d).”
Subdivision (d) notes the crime “is punishable as a felony by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment, or alternatively, as a misdemeanor by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both that fine and imprisonment.”
