COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — A reward is being offered for information to help identify the individual responsible for a brutal attack in Colorado City that left a kitten critically injured. After this kitten was found wounded from an arrow, the feline was rushed to St. George for emergency surgery.
Hildale City – Colorado City Police Department Lt. Mark Gower told St. George News that the incident was reported on Oct. 2. That evening, the agency received a call reporting that a cat had been shot with a bow and arrow and was severely wounded.
Gower said the incident took place in the area of Cherry Avenue and Central Street in Colorado City. The young kitten was found outside by a child who then told their parents. Shortly after, the police department arrived to find the critically wounded animal with an arrow still protruding from an eye.
The police department reached out to RSQ Animal Rescue Team, a non-profit rescue agency, and arranged to have the cat treated at an emergency veterinarian clinic in St. George.
Minutes later, the kitten was transported by an officer from Colorado City to the St. George animal hospital to remove the arrow from the cat’s eye.
Fortunately, Gower said that the arrow did not sever any blood vessels that could have left the kitten to bleed to death. Nor did it cause any neurological damage, but the eye could not be saved and had to be removed during surgery.
Gower also said the attack was “deliberate, intentional and criminal,” and is currently under investigation.
Jennifer Hare, with RSQ told St. George News that the kitten, named Story, is lucky to be alive, considering that the arrow traveled through the eyeball and into the neck, instead of the brain, where it would have certainly killed the animal.
She went on to say that prior to the incident, the kitten was being cared for by a family living in Colorado City and belonged to a family of three — two kittens and the mother — that the family was caring for at the time. The kittens’ mother, Hare said, had been shot weeks before but survived. Since the attack on the kitten last week, she said that neither the remaining kitten nor the mother have been seen by the family.
Following the surgery, Story is slowly recovering and has been placed with a foster family until she has recovered enough to be placed for adoption, Hare said.
For Gower, any case involving animal cruelty is taken seriously, as was the case when six dogs were shot with a shotgun and left to die on the side of the road in March.
One dog that did survive after being shot twice with a shotgun and was also helped by RSQ, as previously reported by St. George News.
After multiple surgeries, Gower said on Friday that the dog is still recovering and needs one more surgery to improve the animal’s quality of life.
Less than a month later, two were identified and charged in the case, including Julia Jessop, 38, of Colorado City, who was identified as the owner of the dogs. And George Russell Cooke, 51, of Colorado City, who the report alleges to have fired the shotgun.
In reference to the recent case involving the kitten, Hare said that “somebody knows something.” They are hoping that person comes forward to help identify the individual responsible. To that end, RSQ is offering a $1,000 reward for information that helps to solve the crime. She also noted this is one of several recent incidents involving animals that have been abused in the border town area.
Similarly, Gower said that authorities are asking that anyone with information that can assist in the investigation to call the Hildale City – Colorado City Police Department at 928-875-9170, and reference case number 23CM1780.
This report is based on statements from police, emergency personnel or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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