Philly kitten that was horrifically burned makes remarkable recovery
Seth Augenstein/The Star-Ledger Wednesday, May 01, 2013 11:20:58 AM
LEBANON — The one-pound kitten was found, burning, at a Philadelphia intersection last Thursday.
A quick-thinking Samaritan took off a coat, and smothered the flames, saving the burning 5-week-old animal’s life.
Six days later, the kitten – now named Justin – is getting delicate medical attention, and he’s expected to mostly recover from the second- and third-degree burns on his back and head.
The tiny kitten is eating and sleeping, and undergoing a regimen of antibiotics, wound dressings, and appetite stimulants at the Crown Veterinary Specialists in Lebanon, said Anne Trinkle, the executive director of Animal Alliance.
“He’s doing remarkably well – but he’s not out of the woods yet,” said Trinkle, of Animal Alliance, a Lambertville-based animal-welfare non-profit, which got the cat the care he needed.
Most of Justin’s ears will have to be removed, and badly-burned splotches on his back will remain bald, said Trinkle. The scorched wounds extend from the top of the feline’s head down the length of his back. The scar tissue has to be carefully debrided regularly to allow the skin to continue healing, she said.
An unknown person had doused the kitten with accelerant and applied a flame – before leaving Justin to die at the intersection of F and Clearfield Streets in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, on April 25, investigators say.
It’s just depravity,” said Trinkle, who said her group handled four animals in the area who were set on fire last year alone. “It’s just random violence – and it’s toward something tiny that can’t fight back.”
The Humane Society of the United States is offering a reward of as much as $5,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the people responsible for the attack.
“This is the latest in a disturbing string of animals apparently being intentionally lit on fire,” said Sarah Speed, the Humane Society’s Pennsylvania state director. “This depraved act of cruelty will not be tolerated, and we hope this reward will encourage anyone with information to come forward and help bring a perpetrator to justice.”
Six days later, the veternarians are describing Justin the kitten as “spunky” and “animated” – when he’s not sleeping off the anesthesia and medications helping him to recover. The medical bills are likely to be steep – in the range of $5,000 to $6,000, Trinkle said. The all-volunteer group is seeking donations to make his full recovery possible. But they’re confident that good-intentioned people bring that to a reality.
“He’ll look like a little prize-fighter,” Trinkle said. “But we’re hoping he’s going to have a fantastic life.”
Donations are being accepted at www.animalalliancenj.org.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/03/philly-kitten-that-was-horrifically-burned-makes-remarkable-recovery/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Lock the psychopath up!
Thank God for the person who found him...that kitten has an adorable face.
I've seen such things happen before sadly. The culprit (often some messed up kid) walks away unscathed! 
People (and kids) that do things life this are sick, plain sick! 
and even though there is a state agency to investigate breeders, there is still so much shit...I think PA is only one of 12 states that have an agency that oversees this...can you imagine how awful it is where there isn't even nominal oversight?
Last edited Sat May 4, 2013, 10:58 AM - Edit history (1)
I know all about puppy mills! I'd never heard of them UNTIL I ended up adopting a dog (said to be 3 years old and being "retired" from the "breeding" program that this person was "running"
.
Said dog was said to perhaps have a mild form of hip dysplasia. I adopted said dog anyway and it turned out it was older than stated and it had SEVERE hip dysplasia.
I have never had another dog since. This happened to me in 2005 and I tried and tried to get this person that lived in another state which I found out has the weakest animal rights laws in the entire USA and is right next to Pennsylvania where many of these puppy mills being run are indeed run by the Amish! They see no value in "livestock" which is how they few their operations.
Had I known this, I would have never adopted said dog. 
I mention a messed up kid in an above post.
Yes, I had a "messed up kid" living near me.
One day, the people next door to me (who had adopted a kitten) noted it had gone missing.
I knew where it went -- like a psychic message almost -- that messed up kid up the street!
Sure enough they found the kitten in the dumpster and the "messed up kid" admitted to grabbing the kitten from a partially open window and strangled it to death.
Last I heard he was going to go to Afghanistan!
Good damn luck you bastard! I hope you rot in hell!
I hope he wears a sign around his neck that says on it, "I strangled a kitten and enjoyed every minute of it!".
I found a bit more on this (never knew about this at all I must admit):
>>"The grammarian Ibn Babshad was sitting with his friends on the roof of a mosque in Cairo, eating some food. When a cat passed by they gave her some morsels; she took them and ran away, only to come back time and time again. The scholars followed her and saw her running to an adjacent house on whose roof a blind cat was sitting. The cat carefully placed the morsels in front of her. Bashbad was so moved by God's caring for the blind creature that he gave up all his belongings and lived in poverty, completely trusting in God until he died in 1067 (oral tradition recorded in the late 14th century by the Egyptian theologian and zoologist Damiri (d. 1405)" (Lorraine Chittock, Cats of Cairo, p. 40).
I mean like 
:'(
Who would do that to a baby kitty :'( wtf is going on on this planet 
