A cute crying kitten had one paw severed by a possibly illegal steel-jaw trap after the unlucky young cat was caught in a Covina backyard.
But sheriff’s deputies managed to rescue the small animal after being summoned by a concerned neighbor.
“It appears that the trap was in the yard to immobilize threatening animals away from a Koi fish pond that was also located in the backyard,” said Deputy Juanita Navarro-Suarez of the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
The legality of the trap was to be addressed in an investigation of the property owner, she said.
Deputies from the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station were called about 10 a.m. Thursday to the 5000 block of Conlon Avenue, said Navarro-Suarez.
Deputies first spoke with the woman who called them about a kitten she had heard crying for a few days, Navarro-Suarez said. She directed them to a nearby residence.
No one answered the front door so the deputies climbed the wall to the backyard where they found the kitten whose paw appeared broken and severed, she said.
The deputies used screw drivers to pry open the trap and freed the kitten, Navarro-Suarez said. The kitten was turned over to the Los Angeles County Department of Animal Care and Control.
—City News Service