Pa. woman to stand trial for selling pierced cats

[Are_grits_groceries]

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) - A Pennsylvania dog groomer has been ordered to stand trial on animal cruelty charges for selling "gothic kittens" with ear, neck and tail piercings.
Holly Crawford's home outside Wilkes-Barre was raided Dec. 17 after the county Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals got a tip.

A prosecutor says Crawford inflicted pain on the cats, which were listed for sale for hundreds of dollars on the Internet. Crawford's attorney says state law says nothing about piercing cats or docking their tails.

At a preliminary hearing Tuesday, Wilkes-Barre District Judge Paul Hadzick called it a gray area that needs to be decided by a trial judge or jury.


http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96DHNDG1&show_article=1

At least they are doing something to her.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. What do they do about parents

who have babies' ears pierced? Any uproar about that?

[Critters2]

3. Human ear lobes are much less sensitive than cats' ears.

But, if they wanted to outlaw piercing ears other than one's own, I'd have no problem with that.

[FedUpWithIt All]

8. Cats get diabetes blood testing done in their ears and hardly flinch.

Link to your claims please.

[Fridays Child]

5. And what about dog breeds that have their ears and tails cut?

I hate that!

[panader0]

9. You beat me to it. Dogs have their ears cut and tails bobbed

all the time. Certain breeds more than others. If Penn. wants to prosecute this, then what about the dog "mutilations"?

[WindRiverMan]

22. For some working dogs, having their tails docked is good

I run Deutsch Drahthaars and have their tails docked. They are all trained, tested, and hunted religiously. They are cover dogs, meaning that they are asked to go into dense brush to find the quary. An excited dog will knock the tip right off of their tail in heavy brush, beat it to a bloody stump. I have seen seen labs and english pointers do it. My dog's shorter tails don't do this. Docking saves them a lot of grief in the long run.

Now if you are talking about docking a show dog's tail to confrom to AKC standards....I tend to agree.

[MadHound]

25. It is never good to dock a dog's tail

You are depriving them of one of their main systems for balance, especially high speed balance. Watch a dog cornering sometime at high speed. Notice how their tails flail and/or rotate. That is helping the dog actually keep their balance. Now, watch a dog with a docked tail trying to make the same high speed curve. Usually they either lose their footing or slow way down as their hind ends hit the dirt.

As far as brush and other damage, well, it's probably more of a pain for you than it is for the dog. Tails don't have many nerve endings in them, and they dog doesn't feel much pain when they cut us their tail. However tails do bleed heavily, so the pain is mainly for the human, trying to staunch the bleeding on a wagging tail (been there, done that).

[WindRiverMan]

26. Have you ever seen a dog knock the first two inchest of their tail off?

If not, you really do not have any idea what I am talking about.

[Runcible Spoon]

16. Some breeders insist on "cropping" and "docking". It's no better and actually worse than this.

I guess there USED to be a good justification for cropping ears and tails because the argument was there was less to get caught when the animal was used for sporting. Of course this includes dog fighting so I don't have much sympathy.

The "gothic cats" are getting a lot of attention because it's obviously outside the realm of established tradition and status quo acceptance. However, the good news is that if this is prosecuted, it will set a precedence for anyone else in that jurisdiction that wants to push to get docking and cropping outlawed.

They do some fucked up shit to horses, too. :grr:

[Critters2]

2. That's disturbing. Anyone who knows ANYTHING about cats knows how

sensitive their ears are. This woman should never be anywhere near a cat--or any other animal--for the rest of her life

[rvablue]

10. I agree. Can't even believe my eyes that anyone is defending this. DISGUSTING!! n/t

[FedUpWithIt All]

11. Who has defended cat piercing?

:shrug:

[kestrel91316]

17. You, for one.

Piercing any animal's ears simply for the hell of it is ANIMAL CRUELTY. And yes, I am trained to be the judge of that.

[FedUpWithIt All]

20. I asked if critters2 had proof that children's ears are less sensitive.

I disagree with that claim. I NEVER said that a cat should have it's ears pierced. I think it is disgustingly vain, selfish and pitiful on the part of the breeder and the buyers. Of course i am the type of pet owner that can actually tell the difference between a human being and an animal. Humans choose body modification, sweaters and vegetarian lifestyles. Cats do not.

If you want to defend the kitties, do it somewhere they are actually being threatened.

[aquart]

4. Good.

[drmeow]

6. What about dog's ears

are they also sensitive? Don't they clip dogs ears?

[kestrel91316]

19. Two wrongs don't make a right.

[drmeow]

23. I'm not saying wrongs make a right

I'm saying are they going after the people (vets, breeders) who do that?

[Mist]

7. Jesus Christ! Why are some people so fuckin' sick?! Just when I think my misanthropy can't

increase--a story like this nudges it even higher. Yeah, I know, whatever misery is inflicted on humans is worse than misery
inflicted on critters, but still...

[bertman]

12. And many of us actually believe that humans have EVOLVED.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

13. So it's OK to tag cattle but not cats?

[Beaverhausen]

14. look at the cat's ears in the photo in the OP

the posts are obviously so heavy they weigh down the cat's ears. And no, I don't like the tagging of cows ears either.

[Political Tiger]

15. You don't know the difference between a cat and a cow?

Or, using your logic, 'so, it's okay to eat cows but not cats?'

[Stevenmarc]

18. Well look on the bright side, at least the cat didn't get a PA

[1620rock]

21. Not all of us eat cows.

[moggie]

24. Why would anyone want this?

Good grief, a cat is a companion, not a fashion accessory! Who looks at a kitten and thinks "cute, but it would be so much better with metal sticking out of it"?