Barbara's Beat: Fire humane officer that shot kittens in front of kids
Sam's Club

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Fire humane officer that shot kittens in front of kids

By Melissa G.
Lorain, Ohio

On June 10 in Lorain County, Ohio, North Ridgeville "Humane" Officer Barry Accorti responded to a call regarding a feral mother cat and her five kittens living in a woodpile in a homeowner's backyard. He told the homeowner that shelters were full and that the cats would be going to kitty heaven. He then pulled out his gun and shot to death the five 8 to 10 week-old kittens.


We are told he discharged his gun approximately 15 feet from the backyard patio. Never did Officer Accorti let the woman know that he would be killing the kittens on site or that he would be firing a gun in her backyard. The woman ran into the house to shield her children who were screaming and crying. The mother cat is still alive.

Not only are there more humane ways to put down feral kittens, the poor judgement Accorti showed by firing a weapon in a backyard surrounded by other homes put people in danger. Allegedly Accorti told the woman that he isn't suppose to do this, but it was justifiable.

I live in Lorain County and this is not the type of behavior or poor judgement we expect from our police officers. Our citizens are outraged that this happened yet Police Chief Mike Freeman has already cleared Accorti of any wrongdoing. We find that unacceptable. Officer Accorti should not continue his position as a humane officer with the North Ridgeville Police Department.




3 comments:

Mystic Misha said...

The officer obviously has no empathy or judgement. I feel sorry for anyone who may be married to him or if he has kids. Not surprised the police department sided with me. Cops protect each other. If I had been there, I am worried what I would I would have done to him. Shame on Officer Accorti and Police Chief Mike Freeman!

Cassandra M said...

this is an outrage. I think that knowing the cats would be put down to begin with, it was a bad choice to call out Officer Accorti. I would never call a shelter in my part of VA because I know they are kill shelters. I would have found better ways such as looking for homes. I think the owner of the kittens knew they were there and possibly fed them and thought they were cute and then realized the costs or for whatever reason, but you do not just find out you have kittens on your property you know. The officer will pay his dues to God so that is some comfort. In the state of VA if you feed a stray for more then 2 weeks it is considered your stray. So I feel there are a lot of other ways this could have panned out if both sides were thinking at all and the only ones who suffer are the fur babies that never had a proper chance at life. shame on everyone involved in this murder. shame on Police Chief Mike Freeman for not doing his job.

Unknown said...

Glad to see you posted this :) I had already come across it a few days back and signed it as well as both me and my boyfriend have been sharing it around social networking sites as well. I really do find this to be a sad situation, not only did he put the kittens down in an inhumane way but he traumatized the children involved. I had a friend once that had a cat who had cancer and was in a lot of pain and she didn't have the extra money at the time to have her put to sleep, (the vet wanted $80) So she asked her brother if he would shoot the cat for her so it would no longer suffer. He did but he had to shoot it twice and it still didn't die right away it took a minute or 2 after the second shot and the cat screamed when he shot her. So no one can tell me that shooting a cat is a humane way to put it down. My friend has never forgiven herself for that one and she thought she was doing what was best at the time. There is no way that anyone put in a position to protect animals should allow this kind of action to happen and say that it was permissible. In my opinion that puts the police chief in a position of guilt as well. I definitely would like to see action taken...