BY BOB KALINOWSKI
STAFF WRITER
Published: Thursday, January 22, 2009 4:06 AM EST

The black kittens that were mutilated and then auctioned online as “gothic” cried in pain each time they were pierced with 14-gauge jewelry, yet their marketers were eager “to get this aspect of their business up and running,” according to charges filed.

Humane officers have filed charges against Holly Crawford and William Blansett, operators of a grooming business known as Pawside Parlor in Ross Township.

Crawford, 34, and Blansett, 37, each face six counts of cruelty to animals and three counts of criminal conspiracy, according to charges filed this week with Magisterial District Judge John Hasay in Shickshinny.

Charges stem from a search warrant executed Dec. 17 at Crawford’s 71 Dobson Road home, where the business was based.

Animal control officers and state police located three abused kittens and two more that might have been next. The kittens had their ears pierced with 14-gauge jewelry, a standard size for eyebrow and bellybutton piercings in humans. It caused their ears to flop. Their necks were pierced with submission rings. Most shocking to humane officers, their tails were missing and the remaining nub was pierced.

Arrest papers say Crawford and Blansett bragged they would put “a rubber band tightly around the base of the tail to stop circulation to the tail, which eventually falls off.” Blansett, of 188 Gordon Road, Sweet Valley, described it as a “castrating band,” police said. Crawford told the official “the kittens cried when she pierced them, but seemed fine afterward,” arrest papers say.

Members of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case to the attention of local investigators after seeing an advertisement for “gothic kittens” on the online auction site eBay. One PETA official, acting as a possible buyer, visited the home on Dec. 16. The suspects displayed the mutilated kittens and told the official about how they planned to obtain and disfigure more of the cats to sell, arrest papers say.

Humane officers with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Luzerne County, along with state police, served a search warrant on Crawford’s home on Dec. 17. Five cats, including the three that were mutilated, were seized.

The cats are now healthy and doing fine at the SPCA shelter in Plains Township, said shelter manager Cindy Starke.

As evidence, the cats will remain in the SPCA’s care until the disposition of the case. A judge will then decide what happens to them, Clarke said.

The charges against Crawford and Blansett were mailed to them via summons. They will be scheduled for a preliminary hearing in Luzerne County Central Court. If convicted, they face fines, probation and possible jail time.

bkalinowski@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2055

‘Gothic’ treatment of cats nets animal cruelty charges | News | citizensvoice.com | The Citizens' Voice
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