Nurse Poisons Cats, Pregnant Dog With Pesticide

(Photo Credit: Bill Oxford | Getty Images)

A caregiver successful Florida has been arrested for sidesplitting her neighbors’ pets, reports NBC affiliate WESH News. Tamesha Knighten allegedly poisoned 2 cats and a large canine with a pesticide connected Aug. 16, 2023. Knighten faces 3 counts of carnal cruelty and 1 number of depositing poison successful a nationalist place.

Woman poisons neighbors’ cats, large canine for entering her yard

According to the neighbors, Knighten had threatened to termination their pets connected aggregate occasions if they continued to participate her yard. They besides told investigators the time the animals died, the pistillate yelled astatine their kids who were playing outside.

When 1 of the cats started foaming astatine the mouth, Knighten reportedly told the neighbors the feline indispensable person swallowed a frog. According to police, the 2 cats — Luna and Pancake — and the large Chihuahua, Daisy, were poisoned by Phorate, an insecticide.

“We saw that 1 of them was successful horrific distress, others had already died,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said. “The 1 that was successful horrific distress died immediately.”

The felines passed distant wrong hours of each other, but the canine was missing. By the clip the neighbors recovered her, she had died. At the clip of her death, the canine was pregnant with 8 puppies.

Investigators aboriginal obtained surveillance footage from Knighten’s yard. Upon reviewing it, they saw the 51-year-old wearing bluish gloves and holding a bowl, which contained food. Knighten told authorities she mixed chicken with her “special seasoning,” which was aboriginal confirmed to beryllium Phorate, to provender animals successful the area.

Sheriff Judd said samples from the vessel and the animals’ insubstantial had to beryllium sent to 3 antithetic universities. Hence, it took the constabulary respective months to marque an arrest.

“These radical mislaid their beloved pets successful a astir horrific way,” helium said. “And she mislaid her state by going to jail.” He further described Knighten arsenic “a cold-hearted person,” adding “it’s hard to ideate however a idiosyncratic successful the aesculapian tract could bash specified a thing.”

Editor’s Note: This nonfiction has been cross-posted connected our companion site, DogTime.com, and is published nether the rubric “Pregnant Dog, Cats Poisoned With Pesticide.”

The station Nurse Poisons Cats, Pregnant Dog With Pesticide appeared archetypal connected CatTime.