Pet Piercing

[aelf]

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2010/04/pa-woman-gets-house-arrest-for-piercing-gothic-kittens/1Read more... )

Comments

[thexphial]

That's just disturbing. I think 6 months is not enough, and I hope there are precautions in place to make sure she can't get more kittens.

[breakableheart]

There's a pot for every lid, I tell ya. Who on earth would conceive of doing such a thing, and then find people to buy the pets?

[breakableheart]

A good point is made in the comments that almost all the livestock in America carry plastic tags pierced through their ears.

[ms_hecubus]

They're ears are thicker and more able to support the tags though and earrings are usually pretty thin so they'd go through the kitten's ears easily.

[falnfenix]

except she used the sort of bars used in navel piercings, not earrings.

[__45rpm__]

I think it's really stupid and cruel, but I think the sentence was okay. Better than a slap on the wrist I guess.

Side story - We once found a pit bull stray and he had TATTOOS!

[paintmeamovie]

Did you find him on his Harley?

[lady_borg]

There is Sphinx cat that was/is fully tattooed

[ms_hecubus]

I'd say the sentence was too harsh, but it looks like she got it because she had a lot of prior offenses on her record and was on probation for an unrelated crime at the time. I'm sure this was considered a probation violation.

I do, however, think that some kind of sentence was needed as well as education about why it's a bad idea. I'm sure she thought that people dock dog's tails so why not cat's, but didn't understand how much cats rely on their tails for balance. Also, someone said that we tag livestock, but cat's ears are far more delicate and can't support jewelry the way a cow's ear can support a tag. A tag, I might add, that is thicker than an earring and less likely to rip out through the cheese cutter effect. So, yeah, I think something like a 6-month probation with a fine would be appropriate for a first offense.