ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL)- Authorities in Hawkins County are now searching for the person who cut off a kitten’s leg and severely injured the other.
“The left leg was gone. The left leg wasn’t found on scene either. We don’t know where it went. The right leg, the person had cut into it… into the shoulder but it hadn’t completely severed it,” said Hawkins Co. Humane Society veterinary technician, Jackie Catterson. “The kitten was full of fly eggs, I gave it a shot of antibiotics to start that off. We tried cleaning it the best we could here and then we ran to the vet.”
That other leg might have to be removed.
“It wasn’t a lawnmower accident or anything like that. It was intentionally done,” Catterson said. “The tissue was all necrotic, it was all dead tissue on the limb that was removed. It was a nightmare.”
The kitten was being fostered at a home on Peavler Road.
“It makes me very uncomfortable. It makes me a nervous wreck I have little kids and it makes me feel like I can’t have them out here. It’s very unnerving,” said Megan Carver who has been fostering the kitten since April.
She didn’t know that when she saw them around 9 p.m. Thursday, one would be hanging on to life when her husband got home from work.
“He just saw the kitten sitting here. The blood was dried in its chest and one leg was gone and the other one was just hanging there,” Carver said. “I have no idea why anybody would even want to bother them. They were just in my garage and my porch.”
The family does have surveillance cameras but the footage isn’t very clear.
“There was a man walking and all you really see is their back and they’re just swinging something,” Carver explained.
She called the police who then took him to the Humane Society.
The person who did this- it can very easily go from kittens to something else.,” Catterson said.
That kitty is now known as “Dustin” named after the Hawkins County Deputy who answered the call. While he is now fighting for his life, his namesake is searching for the person who hurt him.
If you have any information on what happened to the kitten, you’re asked to call the Hawkins Co. Sheriff’s Office.
If you would like to make a donation to Dustin’s recovery, you can contact the Hawkins Co. Humane Society or Mount Carmel Veterinary Hospital.
