Phoenix, AZ---

The Arizona Humane Society and Silent Witness are offering a reward of up to
$5,000 for information that leads to the arrest or indictment of the
person(s) who carried out a depraved act of animal cruelty. The victim was a
cat who was found with rubber bands tightly bound around his genitals.
Anyone with information is urged to call Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.

The 2-1/2-year-old male cat had to be humanely euthanized due to severe
septic shock that led to kidney failure, and to end his extreme suffering.

When AHS Chief Veterinarian Nancy Bradley examined the cat, his testicles
were very inflamed; and portions of the tissue around his genitals were
necrotic due to lack of blood flow. Additionally, the cat had an infection
around his scrotum, and he was not able to urinate, causing severe damage to
his bladder and kidneys. The cat was also severely emaciated and dehydrated.
The cat was probably very social - a feral or unfriendly cat would not allow
anyone to bind its testicles.

"We believe that someone carried out this depraved act at least two weeks
ago, then turned the cat loose," said AHS Public Information Officer Angela
Stringfellow.  "He suffered terribly before we rescued him.  Sadly, it was
too late for us to save him, but we know that at least we ended his horrific
suffering.  And now, we are committed to finding his abuser(s) and bringing
them to justice."

Experts believe the cat suffered for at least two weeks with rubber bands
bound around his testicles based upon forensic evidence.

An AHS Emergency Animal Medical Technician (EAMTT) received a call regarding
an injured stray cat who, according to the caller, had been hit by a car.
But when the EAMT arrived at  the scene, she made the gruesome discovery --
the suffering cat lay barely conscious near a parking lot.  The incident
took place near the intersection of 32nd Street and Greenway Parkway in
Phoenix (Phoenix Police DR# 2007-70324203).