**UPDATE An outpouring of offers to support the victim in this file in regards to the veterinary care has flooded in. The cost of veterinary care has been covered and the cat is on the mend. Thank you to everyone for their offers of support.**
Victoria, BC – An Esquimalt man is facing recommended charges of assault and animal cruelty after an incident which occurred just after 7 p.m. on August 1st 2017.
Officers were called to a residence in the 600-block of Head Street in Esquimalt when the caller arrived home to discover blood inside her shared residence and her cat missing. She reported that her roommate told her he had been bitten by her cat. When she asked where her cat was, her roommate allegedly assaulted her and then fled on a bicycle. She was not injured in the assault.
Officers located the roommate a short while later and took him into custody. Despite repeated requests by officers and his roommate he refused to divulge the cat’s location. Officers began a search of the property and eventually located the cat, inside a cat carrier which appeared to have been in a large amount of water in an industrial waste container. The cat was in clear medical distress and brought to a downtown animal hospital.
With the victim facing a large bill for diagnostics and treatment, VicPD officers were able to provide for the initial costs to diagnose the cat. Since the incident the costs of the veterinary care have been covered and the cat appears to be recovering.
The suspect faces one charge of assault and one charge of animal neglect/cruelty.
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