AZ Kids of illegal hang kitten

This is just so disturbing.


Young boys kill kitten; CPS investigates
December 5th, 2008 @ 6:41pm
by KTAR Newsroom; KPHO.com
Two young boys have admitted to stoning and later killing a kitten in an east Mesa trailer park, and authorities are trying to determine what to do about the suspects.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose Animal Crimes Unit investigated the October incident, said the boys, 6- and 7-years-old, are too young to be charged with animal cruelty. Arizona state law prohibits charging anyone under the age of eight with a crime.
Arpaio said Child Protective Services declined involvement, saying the circumstances of the case were outside the department's criteria.
Nevertheless, CPS reversed course Friday afternoon and said it will look into the matter, saying it discovered a little-used provision in the laws stating that the department can investigate if a child under the age of eight commits a crime.
The investigation began when the sheriff's office received a call Oct. 23 from a neighbor who found the four-month-old kitten hanging by its neck from a tree in a trailer park in the 9000 block of Apache Trail in Mesa.
"I found it in the morning, me and the neighbor," said Anthony Yanez. "He wasn't bloody, he was just, you know, with his eyes shut….and we called the police."
The boys apparently had used a wire from the video game controller they were playing, Grand Theft Auto, to hang the kitten, sheriff's deputies said. The animal's head had been injured by blows from a rock.
Deputies said that language and cultural differences made it difficult to persuade both boys' parents of the urgent need for counseling, but ultimately they agreed to perhaps seek counseling for the boys.
"The kind of psychological care these boys need to avoid any further acts of violence against animals or people will be very expensive," Arpaio said. "Both families are likely to be greatly burdened by the medical help required."
Further complicating the family situation is the fact that the mother of the 7-year-old is an illegal immigrant, the sheriff said.
Arpaio said he hopes someone in the counseling community will come forward to offer their services on a volunteer basis. He said deputies have contacted Arizona State University, which has a new program that specializes in these kinds of cases.
"This level of animal abuse at such a young age could be a predictor of worse violence in the future," Arpaio said. "Though it is a little unusual for us to get involved in this way, we're doing whatever we can to find the guidance these two boys need to avoid that."
Any qualified child counselor who might consider volunteering in this case is asked to contact the Sheriff's case investigator at (602) 876-1681.