Law West of the Pecos: Bird Watchers v. Cat Fanciers

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And our new blogging priest from west of here thinks Catholic bloggers are bad.

VINEGAROON, Tex., Nov. 13 — Jurors heard opening arguments on Tuesday in the trial of a bird-watching enthusiast who fatally shot a cat that he said was stalking endangered shorebirds. If convicted on animal cruelty charges in the shooting last November, he faces up to two years in jail and a $10,000 fine.

In her opening statement, the Vinegaroon County assistant district attorney, charged that the perpetrator “shot that animal in cold blood” and that the cat died a slow and painful death “gurgling on its own blood.”

The Internet is up in arms: Cat enthusiast blogs have called the perp a “murderous fascist” and a “diabolical monster.” Birding blogs have defended his right to dispense with a “terrible menace” and have set up funds to help pay for his defense.

In a courthouse elevator during a break in the trial, the perp said heatedly that cat fanciers who have condemned him and sent him hateful correspondence and “think birds are nothing but sticks.” The prosecution and defense wrangled repeatedly about whether witnesses could accurately assess the cat’s state of mind.

The trial, which is expected to take a week, had few spectators save a handful of progressive-social-justice bird lovers and traddy, Latin-loving cat persons who sat on opposite sides of the courtroom, taking turns in nodding emphatically at various arguments, and objections. Phantly Roy Bean, J.P.