2 charged after kitten burned at Saskatchewan music festival

[spaminator]

2 charged after kitten burned at Saskatchewan music festival
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Monday, July 18, 2016 03:24 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, July 18, 2016 03:31 PM EDT
CRAVEN, Sask. -- RCMP in Saskatchewan have laid animal cruelty charges against two people after a kitten was burned at a country music festival.
Mounties received a complaint on the weekend about an animal being abused at a campsite at the Craven Country Jamboree.
The kitten was taken to a veterinary clinic which posted an update on Sunday saying the little cat had burns on its body, but was doing well.
A man and a male youth have been charged under the Animal Protection Act of causing distress and injury to an animal.
They are to appear in court in Regina on Sept. 19.
Police are not releasing their names.
Mounties in Saskatchewan say they're investigating an animal cruelty complaint against a kitten, seen here in a Sunday, July 17, 2016, handout photo, at a country music festival near Craven, Saskatchewan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Craven Country Jamboree via Facebook

2 charged after kitten burned at Saskatchewan music festival | Canada | News | T

 

[EagleSmack]

Filed under "Not Polite"

 

[darkbeaver]

Country music should be banned.

 

[spaminator]

Charges stayed against man, youth of lighting kitten on fire at Craven Jamboree
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Monday, September 19, 2016 05:28 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, September 19, 2016 05:34 PM EDT
REGINA — Charges have been stayed against two people accused of lighting a kitten on fire at a music festival in Saskatchewan in July.
Crown prosecutor Drew Gillespie says the charges had to be stayed because there wasn’t enough evidence to prove who injured the cat or that the feline’s condition was bad enough to put those who possessed it under a legal duty to obtain help for the animal.
A man and a male youth were scheduled to appear in court in Regina today on the charges.
The pair were charged in July with causing distress and injury to an animal after RCMP received a report that someone had soaked the kitten in alcohol and then lit it on fire.
It allegedly occurred at the Craven Country Jamboree outside of Regina.
The cat, nicknamed “Jamboree,” is reported to have recovered well from its ordeal after receiving treatment at a vet clinic in Lumsden.
Mounties in Saskatchewan say they're investigating an animal cruelty complaint against a kitten, seen here in a Sunday, July 17, 2016, handout photo, at a country music festival near Craven, Saskatchewan. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Craven Country Jamboree via Facebook

Charges stayed against man, youth of lighting kitten on fire at Craven Jamboree

 

[Danbones]

Country music should be banned.

Countree music, ***** tree music, cat tree music...its the sub*limb*inal influence

 

[Decapoda]

The parents of the kids have spoken out to tell the other side of the story and set the record straight. It appears according to their story that the vet may have actually been filling in the blanks on social media which led to unfounded outrage based on fiction. The kitten shown on social media to get everyone lathered up wasn't even the kitten taken to the vet, it was some other kitten that had been in a house fire.

Moms of the accused teens speak out over Craven kitten incident | News Talk 980 CJME

At the time, the story shared on social media was that the two teens allegedly doused the kitten in alcohol and set it alight, which in turn set off a firestorm of reaction online. However, the story that Lynn Berthelot, the 18-year-old’s mom, and the mom to the young teen, whose name we legally cannot report, tells is quite different. They say the cat actually appeared on the farm a day prior to the music festival and the injuries were consistent with it possibly being caught in a motor engine.
Photos they have showed the kitten had singed whiskers, a cut by its ear, burns on its paws and under its chin. It was also limping.
Those pictures were shared by the mom on Facebook in the hopes someone would either take it in or know where it came from.
A friend responded they would take in the kitten and the two teens headed there on the way to Craven.
When they arrived no one was home and, not wanting to leave the kitten alone, they took it with them to Craven.
"They thought it would be irresponsible just to drop a kitten off when no one is home," Berthelot said. "People take their dogs to Craven, other people have their cats there."
At Craven, some girls reported that the boys had injured a cat and reported them to the RCMP on site. Officers took the cat to the vet.
That is where the moms feel fact blurred with fiction.
"The vet put on social media that the cat had been doused in alcohol and set on fire. That was the vet, not the police, no one else," Berthelot explained.


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Not sure which story is correct, however I do know that the crown did not find enough evidence to proceed with charges. I also know that everyone seems to devour shock headlines these days, however one should take everything that hits the headlines with a dose of skepticism, particularly nowadays with media's habit of lazily cranking out facebook and tweeter posts and calling them stories.