Vegas police ask public’s help in solving ‘heinous’ cat death
Las Vegas police are asking for the public’s help in arresting and convicting the person or persons who tortured and hanged a cat Sept. 14.
Animal cruelty Detective Robert Sigal and state Sen. Mark Manendo, D-Las Vegas, spoke about the case Wednesday during a news conference in the parking lot of the Desert Inn Animal Hospital, 3065 E. Desert Inn Road.
“It’s a heinous crime,” Sigal said. “This is a case where an individual captured the cat and hung it while it was still alive. The cat suffered greatly.”
He said officers responded to the 400 block of South Mallard Street, near South Jones Boulevard and Alta Drive, about 3 p.m. on Sept. 14 for a report of a suspicious animal death.
Police have not been able to identify the cat, which did not have a collar or microchip. Police do not know whether it was a pet or a feral cat from the area.
“Study after study has been done that shows, the people that commit these types of heinous crimes are the type of people that will escalate to many violent crimes against our citizens,” Sigal said. “It is our goal to catch this individual before this violence escalates.”
Animal cruelty cases occur often in the Las Vegas Valley, Sigal said, but detectives typically have leads to solve them. He said detectives have no leads in this case.
Sigal said this case is more disturbing than others because it involved a deliberate act in which torture was the goal.
Crimes against animals are a felony in Nevada, punishable by one to four years in prison.
“We need to catch people that do these violent crimes to animals,” Manendo said.
Nevada Political Action for Animals is offering a $1,000 reward for anyone with information that could lead to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Anyone with information on this incident may call Metro’s animal cruelty unit at 702-828-3307 or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555.
Contact Raven Jackson at rjackson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @ravenmjackson on Twitter.
