An American man who stands accused of animal cruelty offences after he 'fished' for cats has pleaded guilty at a court in Pennsylvania.
Twenty-seven-year-old Kenny Rowles yesterday admitted to aggravated cruelty to animals involving serious bodily injury and torture at Luzerne County courthouse.
Rowles was accused of dangling a fishing line and hook baited with meat into a property near his home, intending to catch stray cats.
He is to be sentenced on 2 December at the same courthouse.
Rowles was arrested in May after authorities became suspicious about his activities. Their suspicions were confirmed when a stray cat was found by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) with a fish hook stuck in its mouth.
Luckily, that cat survived and made a recovery, but still bears significant scars from its ordeal.
Then, according to animal charity Happy Hearts and Tails Safe Haven Animal Rescue, two more cats were discovered with fishing lines in their mouths.
Humane officers later received a tip-off about Rowles from Whiskers World Cat Rescue, telling them that he was baiting fish hooks with meat and bragging about fishing for the cats to his neighbours.
Rowles was hiding the fish hooks in the bowls from which the cats were eating.
During an interview given to police and animal welfare officers in April, Rowles admitted that he was using a triple barbed fishing hook to feed the cats.
A woman also reported around that time that she saw him on his second floor porch with a fishing pole. When asked what he was doing, he responded that he was going 'fishing for cats'.
A criminal complaint against Rowles stated that he owned up to using scraps of meat on hooks tied to a string that was hung across the boughs of a tree to feed and play with the cats.
He cried when he was told by police that one of the cats had a hook stuck through its mouth.
The cat received surgery to remove the hook and has since been rescued by Happy Hearts and Tails Safe.
Dawn Mandygral, who runs the animal shelter, told local TV station WNEP in April: "There was a string with a hook, and then he put food on it, dangling for the cat and the cat ate it.
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"He was fishing for cats. That's what he said."
The 15 cats were left on the property after their previous owners were evicted.
Featured Image Credit: WNEPTopics: US News, Weird, Animals