BEND, Ore. (AP) - More than 60 Oregon veterinarians have signed a petition asking Gov. Kate Brown to order an investigation into the killing of a bobcat kitten that wandered into an elementary school, a newspaper reported Friday.
The 62 veterinarians from Eugene, Bend, Portland, Corvallis, Sunriver and more signed the petition calling the death of the kitten by blunt force trauma "unacceptable, cruel, and offensive to our profession," The Bulletin reported.
An Oregon State Police trooper bludgeoned the kitten to death, but the agency has not said what was used in the killing.
"The kitten was not injured or sick, and its life was not ended painlessly as a last resort," the petition reads. "Euthanasia is a painless method to end a life to relieve the pain and suffering of a hopelessly sick or injured animal. AVMA guidelines clearly state that blunt force trauma to the head is used primarily for small laboratory animals with thin craniums, and that alternate approaches should be actively sought."
The 6-month-old kitten was killed after it was found in a school office on Oct. 16 at Oak Hill School in Eugene and trapped there by staff, who called 911. The school abuts a forested area and the kitten had possibly been abandoned by its mother, the newspaper reported.
A second kitten, likely a sibling, was found wandering outside the school but was released into the wild after blood tests showed it was healthy.
The first kitten was put down because it acted abnormally by entering a school building, authorities have said. Authorities used a dog catcher to get the kitten into a patrol car and then drove it away to be euthanized.
The petition was submitted by Predator Defense and the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, in coordination with a Bend veterinarian.
"To suggest that this orphaned bobcat kitten was acting abnormally is absurd," said Brooks Fahy, executive director of Predator Defense. "In my 40-plus years of working hands-on with wildlife I've lost count of how many times I've seen wild orphans desperate for food do what this little kitten did. And instead of receiving a helping hand and a little compassion, this little guy was treated with extreme brutality."