Calgary senior charged with strangling cats and dumping them
By Kevin Martin, Calgary Sun First posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 12:43 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 05:22 PM EDT
Two animal cruelty charges have been laid against a Calgary senior accused of choking three cats, killing two of them, and tossing them in a dumpster.
But Ottavio Marchesan, who has a court date on Aug. 20, said he was simply protecting birds in his yards from predators he called “criminals.”
“He is coming here and he killed the robin, the robin was trying to get to the worm,” Marchesan said, of one of the intruding felines into his southeast Calgary yard.
“The cat will jump on top and kill the robin and he run away with the robin in his mouth — it’s incredible,” he said.
With birds tweeting around him, Marchesan said watching and feeding his winged friends is a passion for him.
“I like to see the nature, I like to see the birdie come to eat, I like to see the robin while she find the worm for food,” he said.
“Why do people get a cat, want to have a cat?” he said.
“He is a criminal, cats criminal, killing birds.”
Marchesan, 75, was charged after a neighbour complained he’d been poisoning cats.
Police later said the felines were strangled.
“I never poisoned any animal in my life,” said Marchesan, admitting he caught the cats in his rabbit cage and threw them in the trash.
“I throw the cat inside the garbage container, maybe the cat bang his head,” he said.
Calgary police say a utility worker came across three cats Monday morning about 9:45 a.m. at a dumpster at a residence in the 2800 block of 14 Ave. S.E.
Two were dead and a third was alive, but fled when the worker tried to rescue it.
In the backyard of the home 15 rabbits were found living in “deplorable conditions,” according to Staff Sgt. Travis Baker, who said the rabbits had infections and were living among piles of feces.
“My understanding is this gentleman was raising the rabbits to eat,” Baker said.
But Marchesan said he’s being treated like a criminal and vowed to go on a hunger strike if he’s jailed.
“I’m no criminal,” he said.
He said in custody he won’t eat. or drink “until I die.”
“There’s some people want to put me in jail for killing the cats, ,they’re treating me like a criminal,” he said.
“Send me to jail, fine with me, I’ll be dead before too (long).”
kevin.martin@sunmedia.ca
On Twitter: @SUNkevinMartin
-with files by Jim Wells
Calgary senior charged with strangling cats and dumping them | Canada | News | T
By Kevin Martin, Calgary Sun First posted: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 12:43 AM EDT | Updated: Tuesday, July 07, 2015 05:22 PM EDT
Two animal cruelty charges have been laid against a Calgary senior accused of choking three cats, killing two of them, and tossing them in a dumpster.
But Ottavio Marchesan, who has a court date on Aug. 20, said he was simply protecting birds in his yards from predators he called “criminals.”
“He is coming here and he killed the robin, the robin was trying to get to the worm,” Marchesan said, of one of the intruding felines into his southeast Calgary yard.
“The cat will jump on top and kill the robin and he run away with the robin in his mouth — it’s incredible,” he said.
With birds tweeting around him, Marchesan said watching and feeding his winged friends is a passion for him.
“I like to see the nature, I like to see the birdie come to eat, I like to see the robin while she find the worm for food,” he said.
“Why do people get a cat, want to have a cat?” he said.
“He is a criminal, cats criminal, killing birds.”
Marchesan, 75, was charged after a neighbour complained he’d been poisoning cats.
Police later said the felines were strangled.
“I never poisoned any animal in my life,” said Marchesan, admitting he caught the cats in his rabbit cage and threw them in the trash.
“I throw the cat inside the garbage container, maybe the cat bang his head,” he said.
Calgary police say a utility worker came across three cats Monday morning about 9:45 a.m. at a dumpster at a residence in the 2800 block of 14 Ave. S.E.
Two were dead and a third was alive, but fled when the worker tried to rescue it.
In the backyard of the home 15 rabbits were found living in “deplorable conditions,” according to Staff Sgt. Travis Baker, who said the rabbits had infections and were living among piles of feces.
“My understanding is this gentleman was raising the rabbits to eat,” Baker said.
But Marchesan said he’s being treated like a criminal and vowed to go on a hunger strike if he’s jailed.
“I’m no criminal,” he said.
He said in custody he won’t eat. or drink “until I die.”
“There’s some people want to put me in jail for killing the cats, ,they’re treating me like a criminal,” he said.
“Send me to jail, fine with me, I’ll be dead before too (long).”
kevin.martin@sunmedia.ca
On Twitter: @SUNkevinMartin
-with files by Jim Wells
Calgary senior charged with strangling cats and dumping them | Canada | News | T