MOUNT JOY TOWNSHIP, Adams County — A 31-year-old Adams County man is facing one count of animal cruelty charges after allegedly shooting his neighbor’s cat with a crossbow, court documents say.
Mark Barnes, of Two Taverns Road in Mount Joy Township, allegedly admitted to police that he had shot the cat because it was bothering his bird feeders. He said the cat was also not wearing a collar, according to police.
The incident happened on June 15, according to a Pennsylvania State Police affidavit. Police say they received a call from a woman on Two Taverns Road who claimed that her cat, Angel, had been shot with a bolt from a crossbow. The cat was still alive, and had crawled to the deck area at the rear of her home. The woman transported her cat to the Gettysburg Animal Hospital, where it underwent surgery.
A Gettysburg Hospital employee told police that the cat had been saved, but sustained broken bones in its shoulder and leg, and that amputation of the leg would be required. The hospital provided the bolt used in the shooting, a Tenpoint Pro Elite crossbow bolt, to police.
On June 16, the cat’s owner told police that she had surveillance footage that partially captured her neighbor across the street in his driveway moments before the cat is seen running across the road back home with the bolt sticking out of her.
Police interviewed Barnes, admitted to owning a crossbow. Examination of the crossbow, a Tenpoint Stealth FX model with a three-bolt quiver, showed that one bolt was missing from the quiver. Barnes told police he had shot the cat. The crossbow and bolts were seized and entered into evidence, police say.
