During a narcotics search on a couple's car over the weekend, deputies found a poor cat with its paws wrapped and bounded in electrical tape.
Deputies from the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's Station investigated a suspicious car parked near Soledad Canyon and Sand Canyon roads in Canyon Country after 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, according to the L.A. Times. They spotted syringes through the window of the car that was occupied by a 26-year-old woman and her 23-year-old boyfriend, and after a search, found what they believed to be heroin in the vehicle.
During the search of the car, authorities also found a cat named Lilly upside down in a carrier, with each of its paws wrapped in electrical tape and its front and back legs bound together. The immobile cat was "meowing loudly in discomfort," according to the Sheriff's deputies.
"It was not happy," L.A. County Sheriff's deputy Adam Halloran told ABC 7. "That's what was attracting our attention, something kind of calling to us."
Halloran said that when they asked the couple why they had taped the cat's paws, the reason surprised him. "When I asked her, she said 'because it had been scratching.' Isn't that what cats do?" Halloran said.
Animal Control officers arrived at the scene and helped cut the tape from the paws of the cat, according to the Santa Clarita Valley Signal. The cat has been turned over to Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.
The man and woman were arrested and booked on suspicion of animal cruelty, and the man was booked with the possession of narcotics.
