The mugshot for Daniel T. Smith, 44. He pleaded guilty to six counts of animal cruelty
A Pittsburgh man pleaded guilty to six counts of animal cruelty after he poisoned three cats.
Daniel T. Smith, 44, used mothballs to poison the homeless cats, which he called a nuisance, because he was tired of feces on his sidewalk.
According to an affidavit, the cats had been designated a colony by Animal Friends and had been spayed, neutered and vaccinated.
They were fed by two women on the street, Cindy Matera and her daughter, Christina Zilliott, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
‘I would put food out for them when we were sitting outside,’ said Cindy Matera.
‘They liked to be petted. They were nothing like feral cats,’ she told wtae.com.
The two women called police and said that Smith had put two dead cats in their trash can, got in his car and drove away.
Another cat was found vomiting, and was later euthanized by a veterinarian.
Pittsburgh police Officer Christine Luffey said that the colony, a group of feral cats, previously had 11 homeless cats but only three were left, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
She continued to say that the animals don’t deserve to suffer and if people are having problems with animals, they need to do the right thing, according to CBS Pittsburgh.
The women told police that Smith said: ”I killed six or eight of your cats, and I’ll kill the rest of them.’
The mothballs, which contain poisonous chemical, napthalene, were scattered throughout Smith’s yard.
He said: ‘So what. I have mothballs.’
Smith said that it wasn’t illegal to put mothballs in his yard and that the cats had no rights because they didn’t belong to anyone
‘It’s not illegal for me to own mothballs and put them in my yard,’ according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Smith also told police that the cats had no rights because they weren’t owned by anyone and that police couldn’t prove he killed them.
The charges Smith pleaded to are first-degree misdemeanors, which carry a maximum of five years in prison and because of unrelated convictions, he could face jail time if found guilty.
He will be sentenced on December 7.
The cats had been designated a colony by Animal Friends and had been spayed, neutered and vaccinated