Last weekend, Kelly Bennett could not find Henry. With the memory of the cat she never found last summer still fresh in her mind, Bennett was worried.
Monday morning when she was getting ready for work, Bennett heard Henry come in the back door of her house in the Forest Hills subdivision off Palmer-Fishhook Road.
  
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When he turned sideways to her, Bennett saw a wire tearing into Henry’s abdomen. She tried to cut it off with her wire cutters, but the wire was too tight to fit the blade underneath.
She rushed him to All Creatures Veterinary Hospital. Henry went into surgery and came out stitched up with four drainage tubes and dosed heavily on antibiotics and pain medications. Bennett said Friday that she was taking Henry in that day to have the tubes removed and get a progress report on his recovery.
“The doctors said he shouldn’t be alive,” Bennett said. “He looks like he’s two pieces sewn together.”
The doctors also told Bennett the wire was the snare from a trap. The vet said it is impossible for the snare to come lose on itself, so someone must have cut the cat from the trap without removing the wire, Bennett said.
She turned the snare, pictures of Henry pre- and post-surgery and bill from her vet — $686 — in to the State Wildlife Troopers.
Tory Oleck, detachment commander for the wildlife troopers, said his office in Palmer sees cases like this once or twice every year. While he could not say if trapping was legal or not in this particular area of Palmer, trapping season is most definitely closed.
Illegally placed traps are can bring with them a fine of up to $10,000 and a year in jail, Oleck said. If the trap catches a pet, and the investigation determines it was an accident, his department still holds the trapper accountable. If it is determined to be intentional, it is ruled as a destruction of private property and is no different than shooting it with a gun.
Bop Haskell, chief animal control officer for the borough, said there is an ordinance against trapping domestic animals.
He said he sent an officer to Bennett’s neighborhood to check for the snare, but admitted, “That’s like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
Haskell has only held his job since November, but he said this is the first incident of snaring he’s heard about.
He also said animal control has live traps people can use if they want to trap a nuisance animal.
As for Henry, he is being nursed back to health by Bennett who is expecting he will have a full recovery.
“I don’t know anybody is intentionally doing this, but this is my second cat,” Bennett said. “To think that people even do this to animals is sick. It’s a horrible way to die.” She said everyone she has talked to in her neighborhood is livid. “There are children and grandchildren who play here.”
Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.
Comments
36 comment(s)Power Wagon wrote on Jul 2, 2009 1:21 PM:
Again y0u assume that the cat was trapped close by wrote on Jul 2, 2009 6:49 AM:
to smarter...than the cat wrote on Jun 30, 2009 6:27 PM:
Smarter than you.... wrote on Jun 30, 2009 3:46 PM:
watcher wrote on Jun 30, 2009 3:19 PM:
jp to palmer farm wrote on Jun 30, 2009 2:14 PM:
there were no problems before the white man.
Have to question the antics of the white man, cooks outside, relieves himself inside........????? "
Pegboard wrote on Jun 30, 2009 1:14 PM:
I suppose being civilized means whatever you want it to mean: being mannerly, following the Golden Rule, or it might mean a high tech, complicated society with a large population.
I like to think it means, at the very least, thinking before you shoot a stray cat. A very different society on the other side of the world developed the concept of Karma: so, dude, remember, what goes around, comes around. "
Palmer Farm wrote on Jun 30, 2009 9:40 AM:
(All this from an article about a stupid cat!) "
jp to pegboard wrote on Jun 30, 2009 8:19 AM:
but, i am an original american, so, i guess you weren't referring to me.
You see, our people lived in harmony with nature for thousands of years, until the white man came here and "civilized" us. we had no problems with global warming, poisoning the earth with toxins, and defoliage. And poisoning our people with alcohol to bring their guard down so you could steal their land, "in the name of God"
Gee , thanks for showing us how "un-civilized" we were. "
Power Wagon wrote on Jun 29, 2009 3:39 PM:
Pegboard wrote on Jun 29, 2009 3:15 PM:
All the comments below remind me that in the mid-seventies during the pipeline construction boom, so many of the oil workers were so unpopular here that a common saying was, "Happiness is seeing a Texan heading south with an Okie under each arm."
How times have changed! The middle class wanna be beauty queen governor pretends to be a redneck, and white trash are proud of that label. What is the world coming to?
Jamie Love, where are you??? We need you back! "
MAXKATT from NY wrote on Jun 29, 2009 1:13 PM:
JP...We have established that I'm not gay, black, or jewish. I am, however, part cat, so please take care of my kind up there. ...and don't tell me I'm not a cat! I've got nine lives and always land on my feet. Meow! "
neo-hippy wrote on Jun 29, 2009 8:40 AM:
..good lord... "
Disgusted wrote on Jun 29, 2009 7:51 AM:
I did move Outside after living in Paradise/Alaska for 33 years. I fought the good fight, but I was outnumbered. So I leave it to you and your ilk.
If you want to keep on ruining Alaska like some spoiled rotten kid who cries foul everytime his least little wish is denied, go right ahead. And I hope you are happy with the inevitable results. But that won't happen! Your turn will come. You will finally understand what I have been trying to pound through your thick skulls. More people equals less rights for everybody! "
Annie wrote on Jun 28, 2009 11:37 PM:
Thank you for alerting the community to the fact that some irresponsible, and heartless, people set out traps and snares that wildlife and children might stumble upon. "
jp wrote on Jun 28, 2009 7:40 PM:
if you people don't like people like me, move back to california or colorado, as you may be a bit outnumbered. "
Power Wagon wrote on Jun 28, 2009 11:53 AM:
Disgusted wrote on Jun 28, 2009 8:15 AM:
When I first came to the Mat Su Valley in 1971, there were about 6000 people. As of 2000, there were 60,000. By my standards, that is horribly crowded. It's just not the same. You could look into the history of animal control in the Valley and find out that it got started because of too many angry shootings of strays in crowded neighborhoods that almost hit people. "
Power Wagon wrote on Jun 27, 2009 2:53 PM:
I hope somebody's goat herd wanders onto this dimwit's porch...LOL! "
jp wrote on Jun 27, 2009 1:10 PM:
my way was quicker and had resolve in minutes, and didn't have to pay a lawyer or court costs.
Those who let their cats run free are the cause of the infestation of feral cats, which are becoming a huge problem.
so join the F.C.H.A ( feral cat hunting alliance) and do your part to protect nature. "
Disgusted wrote on Jun 27, 2009 7:08 AM:
To JP wrote on Jun 26, 2009 8:23 PM:
Power Wagon wrote on Jun 26, 2009 9:21 AM:
Kitty wrote on Jun 25, 2009 2:36 PM:
jp wrote on Jun 25, 2009 7:33 AM:
To JP wrote on Jun 23, 2009 4:27 PM:
jp wrote on Jun 23, 2009 12:34 PM:
I shot the cat, and hand delivered it back to my neighbor.
Keep you pets in your own yard!!! "
Keep your cats home wrote on Jun 23, 2009 9:29 AM:
Get a clue wrote on Jun 22, 2009 11:27 PM:
Barbar s wrote on Jun 22, 2009 5:34 PM:
Who says the trap was on public land wrote on Jun 22, 2009 10:27 AM:
Come on wrote on Jun 22, 2009 10:25 AM:
Tried wrote on Jun 21, 2009 5:21 PM:
No snares wrote on Jun 21, 2009 4:53 PM:
Cats should be kept home wrote on Jun 21, 2009 1:12 PM:
snares are set for animals all the time in the Valley wrote on Jun 21, 2009 1:07 PM: