SAN JOSE — The San Jose Animal Care Center is asking for the community’s help in finding whoever shot and seriously injured two cats with a pellet gun in two different neighborhoods over the past two weeks.
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“These incidents are deeply concerning,” said Courtney Sykes, a public information representative with San Jose Animal Care and Services.
Both cats were strays and under a year old, Sykes said. The first cat, a 6-month-old female, was found injured sometime the week of Aug. 17 near Chaucer Drive and South King Road, a news release from animal services said.
The cat, with calico markings, was severely underweight and unable to stand when she arrived at the shelter, and the center’s medical team found eight pellets lodged in her body, the news release said. They were able to remove five, and she is recovering from surgery while being fostered by a shelter employee.
The second cat, a female white spotted tabby around 8 months old, was found last week near South Almaden Avenue and Union Street after being shot once with a pellet gun, the release said. She’s been treated for her injuries and remains in the center’s care as she recovers.
It’s not known if these attacks are connected, and no suspects have been identified, the release said. Animals services officers have been out to the neighborhoods, asking if anyone saw anything. They’re asking for people to contact them if they have information about the attacks, have seen anyone act suspiciously around a cat or other animal or if they have doorbell or security camera footage that could help the investigation.
These attacks are concerning for several reasons, according to Sykes. They raise the specter that people’s pets in these neighborhoods could be at risk. The release also said: “We want to alert the community so residents are aware of what has occurred, can take steps to help keep their own pets safe, and can reach out if they have seen or heard anything that could assist with our officers’ investigations.”
Sykes also pointed out that intentionally harming an animal is a crime under California law. Penal Code 597 states that any person who who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal is guilty of a crime.
Beyond that, a 2021 training bulletin issued by the FBI points out that animal cruelty should not be seen as an isolated incident because decades of research have shown a well-documented link between harming animals and violence against humans, including intimate partners, children or older people.
“People who hurt animals don’t stop with animals,” begins another article by the nonprofit, Washington D.C.-based Animal Defense League. This link “makes it critically important that cruelty toward animals be taken seriously by law enforcement, and by society at large.”
The Animal Defense League cited a landmark 1997 study by the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Northeastern University which showed that animal abusers are five times as likely to also harm humans. Another study, published in 2013, “found that 43% of those who commit school massacres also committed acts of cruelty to animals — generally against cats and dogs.”
Anyone with information about these shootings in San Jose is asked to call the Animal Control Unit at (408) 794-7297. On their own, people should not approach or confront anyone they believe could be involved in the shootings.
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