I've spent years advocating for dogs and cats who can't speak for themselves, and few stories have shaken me the way Zena's has.
On September 8, in Erin, Tennessee, police say an adult named Darlene Hooper allowed two juveniles in her care to shoot cats living near their home with a dart gun. One cat was killed. A kitten took a dart straight through her torso and was left to fend for herself. A local rescue group found her in time, and veterinarians performed emergency surgery costing about ten thousand dollars to save her life. She survived, and the people who found her named her Zena, because that is exactly what she is: a fighter.
Hooper now faces three felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The two juveniles each face three counts of aggravated cruelty to animals in juvenile court. Investigators believe more cats near the property may have been targeted the same way.
This is not one bad moment. This is an adult who, prosecutors allege, let children under her supervision hunt cats for sport with a weapon built to pierce flesh. That is cruelty being modeled and passed down to kids, and it has to stop with real consequences.
I'm asking Houston County District Attorney General Ray Crouch to prosecute Darlene Hooper to the full extent of Tennessee's aggravated animal cruelty law, to pursue the juvenile cases as seriously as the law allows, and to keep investigating the other cats reportedly targeted near that property instead of letting the case quietly narrow.
Zena survived a dart through her body. The least we can do is fight for the felony convictions the people who did this to her deserve. Please sign and demand that Houston County prosecutes this case to the fullest extent of the law.
