Putnam County man accused of shooting neighbor’s cat trapped in cage on Beecher Spring Road

A Putnam County man is behind bars, accused of shooting and killing a neighbor’s cat as the woman watched it unfold. Deputies say the shooting happened while the animal was trapped inside a cage.

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office says a pet cat was shot and killed on Beecher Spring Road while trapped inside a cage.

“You have to be a pretty horrible person to do that to an animal,” said Deb Darino, an animal rights activist.

The sheriff’s office arrested 37-year-old Levi Eugene Crowe after a neighbor reported watching him shoot her cat.

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According to the incident report, the shooting happened around 11:30 Sunday morning. After the victim was looking for her pet cat, she heard it meow and grabbed a ladder to look for it.

The incident report indicates she saw the cat in her neighbor’s yard. Shortly after, she says she saw Crowe come out, and he quickly glanced in her direction.

The victim says Crowe initially picked up the cage, making her believe he was returning the cat. But instead, he put the cage down, retrieved a pistol, and fired one shot at the cat inside.

Darino says there were other ways to handle the situation, and shooting a trapped domesticated animal should never be the answer.

“It’s common in rural areas that this happens, but that doesn’t mean that you should, you know, kill an animal just for the sake of killing them,” Darino said.

Based on the incident report, Crowe stated he killed the cat because it had been killing his chickens. Crowe did admit to shooting the caged cat and dumping its body down the road.

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