Woman pierced kittens for gothic look

Woman pierced kittens for gothic look

It is cruel to pierce kittens to give them a gothic appearance, US judges have ruled.Three judges of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania affirmed a lower court conviction of an animal groomer, Holly Crawford, who sold 'gothic' kittens on online marketplace eBay.

"Metal protruded from the kittens' small bodies, pierced through their ears and necks, and at least one of these kittens also had an elastic band tied around its tail, an attempt at docking, which is a procedure to stem the blood flow so that the tail eventually falls off," Judge Kate Ford Elliott wrote in a 19-page opinion, published by The New York Times.

Crawford, who had offered the kittens for US$100 (RM290), was exposed after an investigator for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) posed as a customer and met her in 2008.

She was reported to the authorities and the kittens were seized.

In April last year, the groomer was sentenced to six months of home detention and electronic monitoring.

Crawford, who was described as having 'several facial piercings' herself and being 'enthusiastic about piercing', admitted to performing the kitten piercings herself without anaesthetic, though she did treat the kittens with antiseptic after the procedure.

Source: nytimes.com
Published June 18 2011