Social media can be a powerful tool for good. For example, we often see amazing animal rescuers and pet owners posting online, spreading a message of hope or asking their community for help. Whether they're asking for foster homes for homeless animals, donations of toys or food for shelter dogs, or financial assistance for the overwhelming vet bills of a beloved pet, social media platforms can bring people together to do immense good in animals' lives.
But one person in the state of Virginia did the
unthinkable,
taking advantage of the kindness he knew existed on the internet to scam people out of their money, hurting innocent animals in the process.This man
tortured multiple cats, uploaded distressing videos of them, lied about their condition, and then asked people to donate to him -- pocketing the money and continuing to hurt cats and let them live in agony!
Sign the petition to demand justice for Hayden the cat, and all other cats victimized by this man!Most of the details of the case center around a cat named Hayden, a sweet grey striped tabby cat. In multiple videos spanning about a month, the man took videos of Hayden in horrific distress -- the cat can be seen
bleeding from his mouth and nose. Hayden's tormentor is also in the video, and claims in it that Hayden's condition is due to cancer that he will eventually die from.
After watching the video, a veterinarian weighed in and soundly disproved that -- Hayden was suffering, instead, from
"head trauma, a broken jaw, […] respiratory distress, and appears under the influence of drugs." None of this is the result of cancer -- it was
brutal torture, plain and simple.
When police caught wind that something clearly wasn't right, they searched the man's home and rescued seven additional cats along with poor Hayden.
They were all rushed to an emergency vet, who confirmed the worst -- Hayden had
"a fractured skull, multiple broken ribs, and a fractured spine."
We don't know the state of the other cats, but we can safely assume that they
wouldn't have survived long in that man's 'care.'
Though all the cats are safe now and this man has been charged, the work is not over. How this man
obtained this many cats while torturing them and posting them online needs to be investigated, and he must be sentenced to a
lifetime ban on animal ownership!Despite his charges, at the time of this writing Instagram has not taken down the account where all these horrific videos of Hayden were being posted.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri must take action at ONCE to disable all accounts from this person, and any videos of the cats involved in this case must be deleted. Future animals' safety depends on swift, decisive action from authorities.
Sign the petition and join us in demanding true justice from authorities and Instagram!