By The Canadian Press

Calgary

Calgary woman banned from owning animals for 15 years

May 27, 2019 | 1:05 PM

A Calgary woman who wrapped a cat’s head in duct tape and put the animal in a plastic bin left in a storage unit has been fined $250 and banned from owning animals for 15 years.

A dog was also abandoned in the unit.

The Calgary Humane Society says Samantha Zychowski was convicted in provincial court last week.

In January 2017, storage facility staff hear animal noises and contacted police and the humane society.

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Officers who responded cut the lock on the unit, and found the dehydrated animals.

The cat had also suffered corneal injuries from the duct tape and there was evidence the feline had struggled violently in the plastic bin for a lengthy period.

Brad Nichols, the humane society’s senior manager of animal cruelty investigations, says it was an extreme case of negligence.

“The intent to keep the cat quiet by duct-taping its head was callous and extremely dangerous,” Nichols said in a release Monday. “That the cat was found, let alone survived … under personal effects in a plastic bin, with its head taped, is incredibly fortunate.”