The video shows a woman stop her car, get out holding a bottle of what looks like bleach, and pour the substance onto food left for outdoor cats while a tabby looks on, sniffing curiously.
The footage was recorded by a family in Chester, Pa., a town of 32,000 about 25 miles southwest of Philadelpia. The cat, Jumper, belongs to a family on the same street.
The suspect’s name had been floating around on various cat-related social media sites along with the video for weeks, but police and prosecutors had to be sure of the facts before they arrested the woman.
When lab results showed the substance was indeed bleach, officers arrested 35-year-old Lauren Carter, also of Chester.
Cops and the SPCA’s law enforcement division say Carter admitted to pouring bleach on cat food on two occasions in April. It isn’t clear why Carter wanted to harm cats, and so far law enforcement hasn’t made any comments about her motivation.
They did, however, make sure local pets did not eat the poisoned food.
“We do believe based on our investigation that no animals did consume the food,” SPCA spokeswoman Gillian Kocher told KYW, a local news radio station. “Our officers went out through the area to make sure that no animals were sick or deceased, but it is, of course, our intention that this doesn’t happen again, and the animals in the neighborhood are kept safe.”
Carter has been charged with two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty.
Olivia Oliver, Jumper’s caretaker, said she was satisfied with the outcome of the investigation and Carter’s confession.
“I think it’s enough. I think it’s a good sign; it’s a warning for her,” Oliver told WPVI, the Philadelphia-based ABC news affiliate. “And basically, I’m glad she’s going to pay for what she did. And hopefully nothing like this happens again around here.”
Pain In The Bud 
HER FACE IS SHOWING! Great. Sick garbage in this world. And KEEP YOUR CATS AND DOGS INSIDE!
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Yes, because she has been identified by police and charged.
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And the public knows what she looks like.
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What a shitty thing to do to defenseless cats.
She deserves the maximum penalty,plus jail time.
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I’m interested in knowing why. If she’s one of those vigilantes motivated by the bunk studies about cats killing X billions of animals a year, that’s more proof of the damage conservationists are doing.
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The WaPo had an article about the need to solve America’s cat problem. Appearantly the dog problem has been solved, so cats are next. I didn’t read the article because I canceled the sub. Chances are the bunk studies feature in the article.
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Yeah, unfortunately they do figure prominently in the WaPo op-ed. I started a post about it, but I feel like I’m boring people by hammering on the same points each time.
But yeah, I do worry about people inspired to turn vigilante after reading stuff like that.
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Cats are very discerning – as we caretakers know – so I doubt the cats would eat bleach-laden food.
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Yes, thankfully she was an inept poisoner.
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When I was a kid, somebody in the house, probably my mom, accidentally spilled some bleach on the dining room carpet. She did her best to clean it up, but it remained a stain.
Once it was thoroughly dry, the cat would roll all over that spot, and basically act like she did when we put out catnip for her. Then I once had a shirt I used a teensy bit of bleach on, because there was a stain on it. Even after it went through the washer and the dryer, it smelled the teensiest weensiest bit like bleach. Unless you had your nose buried in the shirt, you wouldn’t have been able to smell it.
But the cat did, and she dragged the shirt out of the laundry basket, and began the same performance she would do with catnip.
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Thanks for pointing this out. I just Googled it and apparently one of the chemicals in bleach may mimic something cats are attracted to.
I didn’t know that and I’m glad I know now. I don’t think Bud would ever help himself to the cabinet of cleaning supplies but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
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Poor cats, they are just trying to survive. That woman is evil.
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What is wrong with people? Fortunately, that is not a very good way to poison cats. They generally don’t like the smell of bleach.
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I looked and couldn’t find anything about motivation, and that is important to me because I’ve been tracking all the violence prompted by birders and those fake studies blaming cats for bird extinctions. Maybe we’ll learn more when she pleads, since she reportedly confessed.
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