A 23-year-old animal groomer in Brooklyn is facing charges of animal cruelty and could spend up to a year in jail if convicted. The charges stem from an experience Igor Kisil and his Burmese cat Nusha had with groomer Bechir Bejaoui of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Kisil says that when he went to pick up his small cat, who weighs only three pounds, she was returned to him in a carrying case covered with blood. Kisil says that the cat was literally crying, with tears coming from its eyes, and her face was covered with blood. The distressed pet owner called the cops, but when they responded they said it wasn't their jurisdiction to handle such a matter.
Nusha was taken to a vet who said that it was the worst case of animal abuse he'd witnessed in 30 years. Dr. Roy Appel told the Daily News, "I have cats that have fallen out of very high windows that weren't this bad. It was awful, just awful to see the cat suffering like it did." The animal would spend the next two weeks in a veterinary hospital, after suffering internal injuries, trauma, and hemorrhaging. The incident occurred in June and Nusha has physically recovered, although Kisil doesn't think she'll ever be psychologically the same. Bejaoui will go on trial next month and claims that the cat was "bad."
In a separate case of animal neglect, animal rescue workers responding to an anonymous tip arrived at the East Harlem home of Diana Elias, where they recovered a badly neglected dog named Miss Bea. The miniature poodle weighed three pounds but was cocooned in seven pounds of feces-encrusted fur, to the point where the dog couldn't move. Not that it would have been that mobile anyway. Miss Bea's toenails had grown so long that they had curved under her paws to pierce the skin.
Nusha the cat, via WABC Local News
