A 3-month-old kitten wandered into a home in the 33rd Street area of San Diego's Stockton neighborhood on September 23 looking for food and water, a zip tie cinched around his mouth and neck. The injuries were severe enough that the cuts had sliced into both corners of his mouth, with a deeper wound on the left side requiring surgical repair. The San Diego Humane Society is now asking the public for help figuring out how it happened.
A Stray With No Name, No Collar, and No History in the Area
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the kitten had no collar or other identification, and the person who found him said they had never seen him in the neighborhood before. A community member contained the animal and called the San Diego Humane Society, which dispatched a humane officer to respond to the case. That officer then took the kitten for emergency treatment at a clinic in Mission Valley.
Jace Huggins, vice president and chief of humane law enforcement at the San Diego Humane Society, said the kitten — who was later named Derry — was hungry and in pain when the neighbor's call came in. At the clinic, staff removed the zip tie and administered pain medicine before starting him on antibiotics. On September 30, veterinarians neutered Derry and repaired the deeper cut on the left side of his mouth. He was also treated for fleas at the organization's Center for Shelter Medicine.
Officials Say They Won't Speculate on What Happened
Huggins said investigators do not yet know how the injuries occurred and will not guess at a cause. “There is no excuse for a zip tie cutting into a kitten's mouth, and no excuse for leaving him to suffer,” Huggins said, per the same report. Despite his injuries, Derry was described as social and affectionate throughout his recovery, and he has since been adopted by a member of the Humane Society's humane law enforcement team.
Investigators are asking anyone with information about the case to come forward, and have set up a dedicated phone line and email address for tips. The outlet reported that people can reach officers at 619-299-7012 or [email protected].
Not the First Zip-Tie Case in San Diego
This is not the first time San Diego's Humane Society has pursued a case involving a cat injured by a zip tie. In 2021, a Russian Blue cat was found in the City Heights area with a zip tie pulled so tightly around its neck that the injuries proved fatal, according to the Los Angeles Times. People began reporting sightings of that injured cat on May 29 of that year, and the animal was ultimately euthanized because of the severity of its wounds, as reported by FOX 5 San Diego. In that felony animal-cruelty investigation, the Humane Society and Crime Stoppers offered a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest, with anonymous tips accepted through a separate tip line. No information in Derry's case indicates whether a similar reward is being considered this time around.
