Protesters in Elkhart demand justice for cats killed in trash compactor; prosecutor won’t press charges

ELKHART, Ind. (WSBT) Back in February, three employees at an Elkhart County RV factory killed two stray cats by placing the animals in a trash compactor. Earlier this month, the three employees were facing charges of animal cruelty for the killings following a months-long investigation. A few days later those charges were dismissed before the workers were arrested.

On Wednesday, a protest took place in Elkhart where a group of people gathered to demand justice for the cats. A short time later, Elkhart County Prosecutor Vicki Elaine Becker issued a media advisory explaining why she wouldn’t be pressing charges against the workers, despite the calls for justice.

In the advisory, Becker explained that the cats were feral and had caused damage to the ceiling of the factory and to an item which she did not specifically name. The workers had tried to find homes for the cats and had even relocated one of them 10 miles away. However, that cat made it back to the plant. Because of the failed effort to relocate or rehome, the workers decided to destroy the cats using a trash compactor.

Becker stated that despite the fact the actions of the workers could be found to be offensive or objectionable to some, their actions did not constitute criminal activity. That’s because of an exception to an Indiana law prohibiting the abuse of a vertebrate animal. A cat is a vertebrate animal of which, “the protections against abuse, torture, or mutilation would normally apply.”

The use of animal abuse laws is prohibited in certain situations; among them are hunting trapping, and farm management practices. There’s also an exception when the vertebrate animal is destroying or damaging a person’s property, which was the case at the RV plant.

Because the death of the cats would have taken just seconds, a much shorter period of time than what a legally trapped animal would endure, the killings don’t fit the standards of abuse.

The media advisory ended with this paragraph:

Accordingly, as the cats causing damage to property that are the subject of this case were, by definition, vertebrate animals like a mouse, a rat, a raccoon, or an opossum, and were destroyed in a manner that did not prolong suffering beyond that which is permitted by law, no criminal charges will be filed in this matter.

Vicki Elaine Becker, Elkhart County Prosecutor