Cat Survives from Arrow Attack

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - An animal abuse case in St. Johns County has investigators looking for answers. On Valentine's Day, a 4-year-old cat named Isabella was shot with an arrow. The arrow impaled both of the black and chocolate tabby's front legs."I heard a cat crying but I didn't realize it was her. When we got some lights on, it was her and I saw she had been shot by an (arrow)," said the cat's owner, Dana Usina.

Usina and her son Lucas said they are still shocked by the sight of the cat in their front yard on Saturday.

"As soon as I realized an arrow went through my cat, I freaked out," said Lucas Usina.

"He didn't even believe it had happened. He thought that she was laying on it, but it was unreal to see your cat shish kabobbed on your front porch," said Dana Usina.

With the help of a police officer, the Usinas clipped the arrow and pulled it out of the suffering cat. They said Isabella immediately got up and has been moving around fine ever since.

"She probably just moved a little bit and got shot in that arms and not through her, which is a good thing. It didn't hit any arteries or any muscles. She got up and ran away after we took the arrow out," said Lucas Usina.

The family gave police a description of a possible getaway car carrying the shooter. Still, no one has been arrested in the animal abuse case.

"Who would do that? Some really mean person?" Dana Usina said.

Police continue to follow leads in the case and hope to catch the culprit responsible for the cat's attack.

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Killing of cats provokes outrage

The Golden Valley Animal Humane Society's move to put down 118 cats rescued from a St. Anthony mobile home last week has prompted leaders of no-kill animal shelters to call for better cooperation that they say might have prevented some of the deaths. Still, opinions are mixed as to what kind of pets would have emerged from such extreme conditions. The Humane Society said offers of help from three other shelters came only after the cats were already put down. Humane Society representatives said the cats had diseases ranging from feline AIDS and herpes to upper respiratory infections and ringworm.

The pervasiveness of chronic and contagious illness among the cats led Humane Society officials to determine that "if placed it could potentially be putting animals into the community that could impact the health of other animals," said Humane Society spokeswoman Tracie Jacobson. The cats had been living in Cheryl and Stanley Saladis' 500-square-foot, debris-packed mobile home in St. Anthony before they were removed Feb. 10.

At the Home for Life sanctuary in Star Prairie, Wis., Lisa LaVerdiere offers a haven for animals that are old, chronically ill or have behavioral problems that make them unlikely to be adopted. She said she wishes that small rescue organizations such as hers could have worked with the Humane Society to try to save at least some of the cats.

"Nobody else but the Humane Society had the resources and the personnel to do that kind of large-scale rescue," she said. "The Humane Society provides that service that's valuable. But people expect the Humane Society to be there for the animals, and when other groups offer to help and support them in that effort, I wish they'd reach out to us. I wish we could work together to help." An official from a Hastings shelter with a "no-kill" policy said the deaths were "totally unnecessary" and claimed that the Humane Society ignored calls and e-mails from people offering to take in the cats.

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