SPRINGFIELD — A Springfield man has been placed in jail for scattering his neighbor’s cats throughout the city, although he told police he thought they were strays.
William Gizzell, 52, was arrested on charges of theft and animal cruelty after he allegedly rounded up four neighborhood cats that had damaged his property and placed them elsewhere in the city. However, the owner of the cats, Tasha Cox, said each cat had a name and a home despite their indoor-outdoor status.
She also believes a different fate befell her felines.
“He said he didn’t hurt the cats or anything — that he only relocated them,” Cox said. “We think he killed our pets.”
Cox’s home has been much more still and somber without the stirrings of Kiki and Wilson, both gray and white tabbies; Spike, a black cat with a white belly; and Ralph, a white cat with black spots. She would allow them to roam the Southern Living mobile home lot at 1305 Transmitter Road when she left for work and bring them inside when she returned.
But one day they didn’t come back.
Days before Gizzell’s Nov. 8 arrest, he and his fiancée, Jillian Moran, became fed up with the stray cats scratching their car, so they rounded them up, put them inside the car and spread them throughout the city, Moran said.
The cats didn’t have collars to indicate they belonged to anyone, she said, and they were a nuisance but not enough to warrant death.
“We put each one in a different area, but we didn’t harm those cats,” Moran said. “They’re still alive.”
However, Moran would not detail the dropoff location.
Though Gizzell is charged with misdemeanors, he remained in jail Thursday. Springfield police reports stated he deprived the cats of necessary sustenance and shelter. Police also stated he deprived Cox of her property.
Gizzell is being held on a $2,500 bond, which Moran said she has not been able to raise enough money to post.
“I’ve never heard of someone being arrested for removing stray cats,” Moran said.