Long Island Man Accused of Torturing Five-Month-Old Kitten

Miraculously, Callie the Cat now recovering from horrific wounds

Keep this guy away from your cat.

Shomari Ferguson, is accused of "systematically abusing his girlfriend's five-month-old kitten by repeatedly throwing it against a wall and dousing it in bleach," Nassau County prosecutors announced on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Uniondale man allegedly beat the kitten, named Callie, between February and March 2009, then left  it in a closet, near death with severe injuries, before the animal was rescued by a neighbor and saved by a veterinarian, officials said.

Ferguson was arraigned Wednesday morning and charged with two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and two misdemeanor counts of torturing and injuring animals. He faces up to two years in prison if convicted. He is due back in court on August 8th.

“Mr. Ferguson’s heartless actions have not only caused suffering to a defenseless pet, but have also caused anguish to the pet’s owner,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

She believes that animal cruelty cases are usually part of a larger domestic violence problem and according to Rice, Ferguson has a history of physical and verbal intimidation of his girlfriend.

In February, the girlfriend’s roommate said she heard the kitten screaming and then a loud thud coming from the girlfriend’s room, investigators said. When the roommate went to the bedroom, she saw Ferguson holding the drenched, bleach-smelling kitten.

He allegedly justified his actions saying that the kitten attacked him so he threw it against a wall.

"He apparently just didn't like the cat," said Amanda Burke of the Nassau District Attorney's office.

Ferguson then allegedly took the kitten out of the towel and threw it against the wall again, where it dropped to the floor and ran into a closet.

Reports alleged that in mid-March, Ferguson’s girlfriend’s landlord, who lived beneath her, heard loud thuds coming from the apartment, along with screeching from the kitten.

The landlord informed the girlfriend who then called her roommate to find out what was happening. After the roommate banged on the kitten owner’s bedroom door for several minutes, Ferguson opened the door and told the roommate that the kitten was in the closet.

The neighbor discovered the helpless kitten in the closet, smelling strongly of bleach, covered in blood, pus, and saliva.

The roommate immediately took the kitten to the Center for Specialized Veterinary Care in Westbury, Long Island.

Veterinary staff discovered that Callie was suffering from shock, extremely low body temperature and respiratory distress from a punctured, collapsed lung.

The kitten also had a fresh puncture wound to the face, a freshly broken femur bone, two-month old fractured ribs, and scarring around the kitten’s head. She was in the hospital for a month

The good news is that, since being rescued from that hell, Callie was successfully rehabilitated and adopted. A tip from a veterinarian led investigators to Ferguson.

Oh and by the way, Ferguson was already in court to face unrelated charge of second-degree robbery at the time of his arraignment in the animal cruelty case.

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