Poop City

Jealous loser "allegedly" kills cat

A wannabe baseball pitcher and actor allegedly took his frustrations out on his girlfriend's cat late last month.

Authorities say Joe Petcka beat 7-pound tabby Norman to death on March 27. Petcka was reportedly jealous of Norman, who he complained got more attention from Petcka's girlfriend than he did. The one-time Mets draftee was arrested last week and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals.

Says Newsday:

... Petcka, who stands 6 feet, 3 inches tall and weighs 205 pounds, choked and beat the tawny-colored cat ... so badly that the feline suffered three broken ribs, a broken leg and cracked teeth, said Joseph Pentangelo, assistant director of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Norman's body was discovered by his guardian, Sports Illustrated writer Lisa Altobelli, after she and Petcka had gotten into an argument. Petcka allegedly returned to her apartment after the fight, when Altobelli wasn't home, and killed him.

She took the cat to an animal hospital, where vets determined that it suffered a lingering, agonizing death.

"Because of the chest trauma, there was difficulty breathing," [ASPCA vet Robert] Reisman said. "The cat died over a period of 15 minutes."

And what do you know - turns out Petcka has a prior arrest for domestic abuse, reports the Sun:

Just after midnight on September 28, 2002, [Petcka] allegedly grabbed his girlfriend by the throat and threw her out of his apartment, before slamming the door on her finger, police said. A neighbor of Mr. Petcka's at 144 Spencer St. in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn said the woman had to have her finger re-attached.

What a sweetheart.

And Petcka's defense for killing Norman? That's right: the cat started it.

Petcka's lawyer, Charles Hochbaum, defended the actor, claiming that it was Norman who was the aggressor.

"I can say what we believe happened," the attorney said. "The cat bit him, then any injuries to the cat were in response to being bit."

Of course. And his ex-girlfriend grabbed herself by the throat before dismembering her own finger. Allegedly.

Petcka faces up to two years in jail. Here's hoping that's the best thing that happens to him.

Welfare program funds restored

This bit of news was inadvertently omitted from yesterday's P-O-R good government report.

From the ASPCA:

Thanks to your efforts, the New York legislature restored funding to two crucial animal welfare programs during last-minute negotiations to finalize a state budget by the April 1 deadline. The budget now awaits Governor Spitzer’s signature!

- The Senate and Assembly agreed to restore $150,000 to the Animal Population Control Program, which provides low-cost spay/neuter services to low-income New York pet owners and to state residents who adopt their pets from shelters and humane societies.

- Both houses also agreed to restore $100,000 to the pet dealer licensing program, which oversees licensing and inspection of pet stores and “backyard breeders” in New York State.

Governor Spitzer’s proposed budget would have diverted these funds to instead pay the salaries and fringe benefits of state employees.

Please take a moment to contact your state representatives, Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and thank them for acting to ensure the integrity of these vital animal welfare and consumer protection laws.

Your chance to wear orange

Tomorrow is ASPCA Day in New York (and elsewhere):

On April 10, we’re asking you to dress yourself, your pet - even your home or car! - in this bright hue to let everyone know that you’ll be a voice for animals across the country.

Local festivities - "music, pet tips, a chance to meet the stars of Animal Planet's award-winning Animal Precinct, photos with your pet, food and more" - will take place from 4 to 8:00 p.m. in Union Square.

The ASPCA Mobile Adoption Van will be on-site, as will the current band of one of the founders of Blue Oyster Cult. But please, come anyway.

Poop-O-Rama: Non-recall edition

CRACK & CLAM JUICE: Slope Street Cats has relocated the last of the feral colony endangered by the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn. The effort gained attention via coverage in the Brooklyn Paper and even the Times, but in the end it was a Meow Mix-clam juice combo what done the trick. Says SSC's Laura Brahm: "When you're working on a trapping project, sometimes nabbing that last cat is better than crack!"

RESCUE (ES)ME: In other SSC news, Esme (pictured) needs a home.

SOMEONE SAY PIZZA?: The League of Humane Voters of New York City (LOHV) will hold its spring membership meeting on Wednesday, April 11 at the LGBT Center (208 W. 13th St., Rm. 101, 6:30 p.m.). Featured speakers are to include City Council Member Rosie Mendez, state Assembly candidate Micah Kellner, and George Bliss, who brought the besieged pedicab industry to the city. Also starring: vegan pizza.

WABBIT SEASON: Easter is almost upon us, which means scores of rabbits will soon be sprung on unprepared kids and significant others, only to be surrendered to shelters or, worse, tossed outside to fend for themselves once the novelty wears off. If you find yourself the unwitting (or witting, even) guardian of a bunny this year, House Rabbit Society is a great resource for caretaking tips. To help HRS spread the word about the toll Easter takes on rabbits who are purchased on a whim and cast aside like forgotten toys, join the "Make Mine Chocolate" campaign.

Photo: Slope Street Cats

Spitzer: Come to New York, Kill Something

Eliot Spitzer seems to have it in for New York's animal population.

Even as he plans to divert tax moneys from crucial (and already under funded) spay-neuter and welfare enforcement efforts, the governor wants to pump (no pun intended - really) additional state resources into promoting hunting and fishing, which he believes will boost tourism revenue.

For those of us who don't see how slaughtering unarmed animals qualifies as recreation, much less as "sport," that might be bad enough. But Spitzer wants to up the ante - way, way up.

As part of his outdoor agenda, Spitzer said no new gun law will be adopted without hunting group consultation ...

Naturally, the gun nuts are overjoyed at their luck, if a little suspicious - since Spitzer was previously sort of against the proliferation of firearms. Says Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association:

"If you go back to Gov. Spitzer's record as attorney general, he attempted to limit gun ownership in many ways. For him to do a broad initiative like this is really a very good thing for the hunters of New York state."

Could be that this is a ploy to get the hunting lobby to back down on its opposition to Spitzer's choice to head the Department of Environmental Conservation, Assemblyman Alexander "Pete" Grannis.

Certainly there must be some logic behind it, but until Governor Spitzer's endgame becomes apparent, I think I'll go back and see if I can find exactly when Candidate Spitzer promised to hand over the asylum to the inmates.

Related:
- ASPCA calls for action in re welfare budget cuts. [ASPCA]

Slope Street Cats rescuing ferals from Ratner's path

One of the many reasons I left the south was the virtually unchecked devouring of forest land by commercial and residential developers. Nearly every time I ventured outside of the downtown area where I lived and worked, I would discover another patch of flattened, scorched earth - like the one above, circa 2001 - where before had been a hilly stand of trees. Many times the “discovery” was no accident, as I often reported on such practices, and received regular alerts from distressed readers.

Still, it took me a long time to realize that the impact of slash-and-burn development was far worse than the negative psychological effect it had on treehuggers like myself and my audience. Once it occurred to me that every cleared acre represented helpless fledglings bulldozed in their nests, terrestrial animals violently uprooted from their homes, and untold underground populations buried alive, these sites became almost unbearable to look at.

I expected more from the city in such situations, but it looks like the non-human animals are on their own here as well. Last week Slope Street Cats sent out an alert in search of a temporary home for a colony of ferals who have the misfortune of being in the way of Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards mega-development. SSC found a space, but as The Brooklyn Paper reports, the job is far from done.

The 11 cats - who have been named after presidents and first ladies - still must be trapped, and SSC is working against the clock to remove all of them from danger before demolition begins on a lot at Vanderbilt Ave and Dean St.

“Cats are very tied to place,” said Laura Brahm, the group’s assistant executive director. “If [Ratner] starts doing demolition, the cats will either run away and starve, or get hit by cars.”

At the time of the story, Brahm had attempted to get in touch with Ratner’s “much-heralded ‘community liaison office’,” with no response. Brahm told me that she has since been contacted, but SSC has yet to be given access to the site. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, where is the city on this? One would think that institutional displacement of domestic animals - even feral ones - would rate as a practice worthy of some sort of regulation, or at least supervision.

Spitzer steamrolls puppies and kittens

During his run for governor, Eliot Spitzer railed against many things: influence peddling, inefficient administration, entrenched bureaucracy, et cetera, et cetera.

While it’s likely that most voters - including yours truly - missed out on at least some speechifying, it’s a safe bet that Candidate Spitzer never drew applause by declaring himself an enemy of the state’s cat and dog population.

Yet the ASPCA reports that, as part of his first budget, the governor is now looking to carve $150,000 from the state’s Low Cost Spay-Neuter Program, which has funded operations for animals adopted by low-income New Yorkers since 1997.

Spitzer also wants to take $100,000 from the pet dealer license fee pot - fees used to help keep pet stores and dog breeders in compliance with under-enforced animal welfare and consumer protection laws. Such a hit would “essentially deplete” the fund, says the ASPCA. The governor reportedly wants to devote the money to unspecified “fringe benefits for state employees.”

For directions on letting Spitzer and other state officials know this is a bad idea, click.

Related:
- Spitzer defends "right" to cruelty. [NYS]

Cat ladies and cat men: Malkin challenges the myths

It's a story many of us know well. While going about our daily lives, we are "found" by a stray animal - or several at once - and before we know it, we're naming them, taking pictures of them, having them checked out by the vet, dabbing their little butts with warm washcloths to make them pee, etc. And at some point along the way, we acknowledge to ourselves, if not always out loud, that they are ours and we are theirs.

Nina Malkin of Sunset Park has chronicled her version of this life-altering event in "An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle" (The Lyons Press, 2007). And Malkin, a journalist and author, takes it a step further, not only by engaging in the TNR effort, but by shattering the stereotype of the "crazy cat lady."

As she says in this interview with the Brooklyn Paper:

We all know what the image of us is. But most of us don’t conform to it. We have lives, relationships, husbands, children, jobs, friends. But one way or another, we started caring for the animals that no one else will care for.

Malkin also points out that men like cats, too, and encourages caretakers to keep their cats indoors, where it's safe - and where, after all, they really wanted to be in the first place.

Her book is available here, of course, but you might want to buy it elsewhere (because of this).