On April 15, police were first made aware of cats being abandoned in a Walmart parking lot in Connecticut, with the suspect reportedly having run over the kitten while driving away. Upon learning of her arrest warrant, the woman finally turned herself in on May 3.
Woman abandons cats and runs over kitten in Southington
A disturbing animal cruelty incident took place in a Walmart parking lot in Southington in April. As per NBC Connecticut, the New Britain woman is facing two animal cruelty charges and will be appearing in court on May 20.
According to the witnesses, the woman brought out two felines from her SUV and left them in the parking lot. She also tragically ran over the kitten while driving out of there. When police arrived at the scene, the kitten was already dead, and the cat was also suffering from a severe compound fracture.
Authorities are unsure how the adult cat’s injury was caused, but the kitten’s cause of death is in line with the witness account. After diagnosis, the vet noted that the adult cat’s injury was also recent. The fracture was possibly a result of a vehicle running over their leg, much like the kitten’s cause of death.
The abandoned adult cat’s rear leg was in a horrible state when the authorities found them. Reportedly, the fracture was bad enough for the bone to be protruding out of their skin, per Fox61. Unfortunately, the rear leg wasn’t salvageable and had to be amputated.
The suspect has been identified as Ana Rodriguez. The New Britain resident’s SUV was tracked back to her residence. The woman admitted to abandoning the cats but didn’t own up to running over the kitten. However, the instance has been captured on surveillance video.
Rodriguez was released on a $2,500 bond. Upon further investigation, police determined she “intentionally released both cats in a busy retail parking lot during business hours with no food, water, shelter,” per Fox61.
