Who has been shooting cats with arrows for years? A South MS city looks for answers.
Editor’s note: This story mentions instances and photos of animal cruelty. Viewer discretion is advised.
The Poplarville Police Department and Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers are asking for the public’s help identifying individuals involved in a felony animal cruelty case.
In several incidents over the past four years, cats in the South Mississippi city have been struck with blow gun darts.
The darts are yellow and about 4-to-5 inches long with an arrow on the end, the Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers said in a press release.
Brenda Nirenberg, 68, of Poplarville, is a local animal welfare advocate who originally contacted Crime Stoppers about the incidents. She told the Sun Herald that the animals involved in the incidents are people’s pets.
Nirenberg said residents have also found the darts in their yards and have had their cats go missing. Nirenberg has been keeping track of the incidents and provided a list to the Sun Herald:
- In May 2018, a cat survived being shot in hip with a blow dart in his own yard in the 300 block of North Main Street.
- In November 2019, a resident of West Willie Street reported finding a dart on the side of her porch. She never saw her two cats again after finding the dart.
- In August 2020, a cat survived after being found in the Poplarville Public Library parking lot with a blow dart embedded between her chest and right front leg.
- In August 2020, a resident commented on a Facebook post regarding the previous incident that she had found a similar dart in her yard a few weeks before and had not seen her cat since.
- In June 2021, two darts were found in the cushion of a front porch chair on the 400 block of West Michigan Street. The cat who usually sleeps on the chair was unharmed.
- In Late August or early September 2021, darts were found in the yard of resident of 300 block of North Jackson Street.
- In November 2021, a cat named Millie was shot in head with blow dart in the 300 block of North Jackson Street but survived.
In 2020, Mississippi enacted stricter animal cruelty laws that increase penalties for committing animal cruelty and treat each instance of animal cruelty as a separate incident.
According to Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers, individuals involved in this case may be charged with a felony under the new law.
Crime Stoppers sent photos of the arrows, as well as a cat who was struck in the head with one of them. The animal luckily survived, Crime Stoppers said.
Mississippi Coast Crime Stoppers is offering up to $2500 for tips leading to an arrest. Information relating to these crimes can be sent to Crime Stoppers by downloading the P3 Tips app or by calling 1-877-787-5898.
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This story was originally published January 12, 2022 at 1:05 PM.
