Shameful! - Houston Chronicle - Security guards rescue kitten tied to tracks

[Catherine Vincent]

June 16, 2007, 12:38AM
Security guards rescue kitten tied to tracks
They saw a man and woman tying the tiny calico at railroad

By BRIAN CHASNOFF
San Antonio Express-news

SAN ANTONIO — The calico kitten was riddled with fleas and so scrawny you could see its backbone. Yet the animal was in far better shape Thursday morning than it had been several hours earlier, when two off-duty security guards on a secluded South Side road saw a man and a woman tying the creature to some railroad tracks with a shoelace, a police report said.

The couple got away, but the kitten, christened Tracks, got a temporary home with one of its rescuers. "We're trying to make it fat," said John Hernandez, 22, feeding the skeletal weeks-old feline a second can of beef and gravy.

Police are investigating the case as one of deadly conduct because Hernandez and the other guard, Jacob Salinas, said the man pointed a gun at them. The city also could assign an animal cruelty officer to the case.

Cruising near the intersection of Shane and Villamain about 3 a.m., Hernandez and Salinas noticed a young man and woman standing over the Union Pacific railroad tracks, a police report said. The friends felt something was wrong and doubled back and noticed a kitten in the woman's hand.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4895033.html

[Kool Kitty]

1. Tie them to the railroad tracks.

Monsters. What makes people do these things?

[silverweb]

2. WTF is WRONG with people????

:wtf:

[Richard Steele]

3. If I was one of those "guards"...

...I would have shot both those people, and slept like a baby
that night knowing the world was a slightly safer place.

People treat animals the way they WISH they could treat other people.

Anyone who ties kittens to railroad tracks WILL do the same thing
to children someday, if and when they think they can get away with it.

[barb162]

4. People treat animals the way they WISH they could treat other people.

That's right. These people are sub-human sociopaths.

[Richard Steele]

6. I may not know a lot about "people"...

...but that's one of the things I know ABSOLUTELY.

[aquart]

8. You are exactly right.

[Pushed To The Left]

9. I've heard that some serial killers started off by killing/torturing animals n/t

[WinkyDink]

17. Like frogs.

[baldguy]

20. Like our President

[lonestarnot]

29. Yeah just like him.

[LandOLincoln]

12. Amen, brother, except it doesn't matter to me whether they

would have done the same to a human critter or not. I don't want anyone who would do such a thing to a fellow being--a sentient, feeling being--in the same world with me, period.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

13. One kitten saved is just the beginning sometimes...

It means we could be saving many people down the line. Numerous serial killers started their torturous ways with animals, which is a frightening thought. Who knows what those two in Houston could be capable of? Why make any creature suffer like that?

Kudos to those guards for stepping in and saving that adorable little kitten - I hope he or she goes on to have a long, happy life in a loving home. :)

[LandOLincoln]

14. I don't understand why so many people want to link saving the

kitten to the possible saving of human lives down the line.

Do you really mean to imply that it would be okay for them to treat the kitten this way, if it weren't for the fact that animal torture so often leads to human torture/murder?

[prole_for_peace]

25. that's the same thing i was thinking.

i know about the warning signs but i am pissed off at how they treated this baby not how they may possibly treat humans down the line. plus these were adults. the "serial killer warning signs" are usually found in children and teens. the people who did this are already what they are not becoming what they will be. (huh??)

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

26. It is *NOT* okay to treat any living creature that way...

...and I wasn't ever implying that it was. I'm sorry if you misunderstood. I have three cats myself, and am against any animal or human being tortured or abused, under any circumstances. It's just that there's such a strong, scientifically proven pattern of abuse among people who act in such a way towards animals, and so many later move to hurting people. It's a huge red flag, and it's a societal problem that needs to be addressed.

[malaise]

15. Bingo n/t

[krispos42]

5. Words fail me

Goddamn bastards.

[Jamastiene]

7. the fuck?

:wtf: Why were they doing that to the kitten? I hope those evil bastards are caught and rot in jail for it.

[Pushed To The Left]

10. It would take a special kind of evil to do this to a kitten

or any living thing for that matter. I really hope they catch the people who did this. Technically, they did use a gun in the commission of a crime, so hopefully that will keep them from getting a light sentence.

[Phrogman]

11. I think this whole story is a hoax, smells like bullshit to me.

A couple of young security guards found the kitten and came up with a brilliant way to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Come on, armed people tying kittens to RR tracks at 3 am in the morning?

[blondeatlast]

18. They reported it to the cops; that doesn't sound like a prank to me. nt

[DarthDem]

21. Coudn't Disagree More

The story indicates that the guards supplied a license number to the police and that the cops are investigating. Security guards filing a false police report to generate publicity in this manner? I kind of doubt it.

[DemBones DemBones]

16. Sad as such acts are, they pale beside child abuse, domestic abuse, murder, war.

Not to mention that kittens and puppies, cats and dogs, are euthanized every day all over the U.S.

This kitten won the lottery because the couple decided to tie it to the railroad tracks. Now it will have a home; someone always adopts the animals featured in stories like this one.

When the abuse or abandonment of a child makes the news, offers of adoption flood in. Meanwhile, there are always thousands of children in need of families, out of sight, out of mind.

Those who adopt abandoned animals and abandoned children should be honored as heroes.

[Coventina]

22. All those issues you mention are connected.

Cruelty is generally practiced against those that are weaker.

Why do you think we invaded Iraq and not China?

Cruelty needs to be taken seriously at ALL levels. And nipping it back at lower levels can prevent it taking root and progressing to higher levels. Do you think that maybe if Bush had been taught as a child that it is wrong to cause suffering to frogs that maybe he would have had second thoughts about dropping bombs on people?

It's all connected, and none of the links should be ignored.

[DarthDem]

19. Sad, Enraging, and Wonderful at the Same Time

This story brought tears to my eyes as I sat here with my Persian on my lap and read it. Tracks is really cute and will clean up very well, I bet - - calicos are supposed to bring good luck in many cultures. I hope the heroic guards who stopped the despicable individuals who did this will get in touch with the right people and find her (the article doesn't say, but almost all calicos are females IIRC) a good home after a checkup with a vet. I would think tons of people would be willing to volunteer to adopt her. Kudos to the guards. And I really hope the police find those bastards and that the prosecutors put them away.

[imperial jedi]

28. Coudn't have said it better.

N/T

[Greylyn58]

23. I know that evil exsists in the world,

but I still find it horrifying when I read stories such as this. Cruelty against animals and children just makes my blood boil. :grr:

I'm not a violent person by nature, but people such as this should reap what they sow and the full measure of the law should fall on them "when" they are caught. :grr:

[prole_for_peace]

24. now i want to adopt tracks

she could live with my two other absolutely spoiled entitled cats. i hope whoever winds up with her never lets her feel scared and lonely. just loved and pampered.

[beevul]

27. What a lack of humanity...

Although now days the word seems to almost correspond to the way these people act more than what it should mean. Sad.


I was at a garage sale this weekend. Well, a few hundred of them. One town north of where I live had one in particular, the holders of which were giving away 2 kittens. They were adorable. I wished I could have taken one or both, but were stretched to our limit already with pomeranians, maltese, a jack russel terrier, and a dozen or so cats. So we moved on to another town farther north that had 40 or so sales citywide. Were a ways in, maybe halfway through them all, and about to get out of our vehicle for the next one, and a minivan starts to pull out from the curb and stops. The guy who was driving opens his door to empty out his cup or something, and a kitten jumps out the door, sprints across the street, and runs under a dodge dakota pickup parked on the other side. It was one of the kittens that was being given away that I spoke of previously.


The guy, visibly angry and appearing drunk, gets out walks over there and starts yelling at the kitten. It then crawls up into the engine bay and disappears. And when I say disappears, I mean vanishes without a trace. Myself and my SO go over there, get the hood open, and theres now like 5 people scouring this truck for the kitten. 15 minutes of looking and no trace at all.

Me and my SO figure well let them deal with it and go back to the yard sale. As were leaving, we see the guy yell from his mini-van "If you find him, you can have him", and drive away. No fucking responsibility at all. We were livid.
We walked across the street and gave the people there and the trucks owner our phone number and asked that they call us if the kitten turned up.