Crime Scene

Justice, kitten style

Its official: don't mess with kittens.

Earlier in October, the Miami Herald was all over the horrific saga of several kittens and a cat that one man said he saw thrown from a moving truck merging onto South Florida's craziest highway -- Interstate 95.

One adult cat survived. Three kittens died.

And the suspected kitten tosser did see some punishment. He was fired.

But this wasn't enough for some folks. Here at the Miami Herald's Broward County outpost, we've gotten calls demanding the person be sent to jail, asking for help filing a civil lawsuit and offering fisticuffs in retaliation. Anyone in doubt can read the pages of comments on the website.

Or you can believe this clip from one of the several phone messages Crime Scene received in the aftermath of the kitten deaths.

"I've been keeping up everyday with the condition of the mother," said one caller who gave her name too quickly to make out. "I want to file a civil suit against the horrible person who did this."

Case of the carousing cows

No, this isn't a joke.

The Broward Sheriff's Office issued a media alert outof Southwest Ranches Tuesday night. It is quite possibly be the most memorable one ever.

Reporters receive several of these alerts a day, informing us about newsworthy events like traffic accidents, bank robberies, homicides and hostage standoffs.

But this latest one was about cows. "Carousing cows" to be exact.

According to the alert, "At about 8:50 pm residents noticed two calves wandering the roadway. BSO deputies don't think the calves are weaned and theorize they are looking for their cow mom. They have been corralled to some extent and the owner has been notified and will take them to their barn ASAP."

Here's wishing that the calves and their cow mom live happily ever after.

Possum: Don't Tase me, bro

South Florida crime story of the day comes from Kevin Deutsch at The Palm Beach Post, formerly of The Miami Herald*:

BOYNTON BEACH — A Boynton Beach man was arrested for drowning, beating, and Tasering a possum Monday before it finally died.

Police caught John Linsen, 55, using a shovel to beat the animal, which was still breathing at the bottom of a trash bin in the 100 block of Southeast First Street.

...

Linsen allegedly admitted to killing 21 or 22 other possums using what police believe were similar methods.

Linsen did not appear to believe he was doing anything wrong, [Animal Control Officer Liz] Roehrich said. She said it was the first time in 20-plus years on the job that she'd seen someone cruelly kill an animal before her eyes.

'It was appalling,' Roehrich said. 'It doesn't matter what type of animal it is. Every animal experiences pain, and that animal experienced a horrid death.'  "

Give a big Kudos Bar to the alert city employee who flagged down Roehrich. Maybe the Animal Planet's Animal Police Miami ought to start tagging along with Boynton Beach cops, too.

* The Herald and Post are news partners, so we help each other out sometimes. The Herald ran a shorter version of Kevin's possum story, so I included the link to the full version on the Post's website.

One fat piggy bank

What's up with South Florida robbers stealing piggy banks from people's homes?

Or perhaps a better question: Who keeps more than a grand in a kitchen piggy bank?

Recently in Kendall, a burglar broke a kitchen window and stole a piggy bank inside. The homeowners told police they had $1,275 in that piggy.

It's not the first piggy-bank heist, either. In August, someone broke into a Miami Gardens home and stole a piggy bank, a PlayStation, a safe and some jewelry. Estimated value: $11,370.