LYKENS, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Police at Lykens announced an arrest in a case of animal cruelty and reckless endangerment that happened near a Dauphin County apartment building.
Alex Martin Yates, 31, from Elizabethville was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, cruelty to animals and neglect of animals.
The charges stem from a Jan. 28 incident when troopers responded to reports of a feral cat being shot with unknown ammunition.
A woman who had been feeding the cat for the past six months told police that she fed the animal and then went inside her house for about thirty minutes. When she came back outside, she noted blood all over her deck.
The woman followed the trail of blood, which led to the cat on the ground with a bullet hole in its neck.
According to police reports, the woman stated that Yates, her next-door neighbor, was always complaining about the cats and thought that "he did something."
Once being seen by staff at the Dauphin County Animal Hospital, it was discovered that the cat was suffering from a gunshot wound. The weapon used is suspected to be a small caliber weapon, but larger than a BB gun.
According to police reports, Yates allegedly confessed to shooting the cat with a .177 caliber air rifle with the intent to harm the animal. He said that his reasoning behind shooting the cat was that it had been scratching his car.
He was arraigned on Feb. 7 and has since been released.
