Reward Reaches Up to $6,000 for Help Nabbing Kitten Abuser

PETA Joins Humane Society of Tampa Bay in Search for Culprit(s) Who Threw Animal Out of Moving Vehicle

For Immediate Release:
June 4, 2019

Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382

Shortly before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28, someone reportedly threw a 4-and-a-half-week-old kitten out of a car near the intersection of W. Columbus Drive and N. Howard Avenue and sped away. A group of good Samaritans managed to grab the kitten off the road, and a Humane Society of Tampa Bay staff member who happened to be on the scene rushed him to the shelter. The kitten, now named Columbo, sustained scratched paws and a bloody nose. He is currently in the care of a foster family and will soon be put up for adoption.

Authorities have yet to identify the perpetrator of this act. That’s why PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—is offering a reward of up to $5,000 in addition to the Humane Society of Tampa Bay’s $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for this crime. The group will also be posting reward fliers in the area.

“It takes a chilling lack of empathy to toss an animal out of a car window and keep on driving,” says PETA Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “The other kittens in the litter this one came from are in danger every minute they spend in the custody of this cruel person, which is why PETA urges anyone with information about this case to come forward now, before it’s too late.”

Anyone with information about this case should contact the Humane Society of Tampa Bay at 813-876-7138.

PETA opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s work for animals, please visit PETA.org.