Crime & Safety
Man Who Beat Cat Gets Probation
The feline was left with a brain injury after it allegedly bit the man.
By City News Service
A Northridge man who beat his girlfriend's cat after the animal bit him pleaded no contest today to animal cruelty and was placed on three years probation.
Nieves Rivera was also ordered to undergo a year of pet counseling and perform 45 days of community service, according to the nonprofit Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles.
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Officials with spcaLA said Rivera tried to remove the cat, named Umechan or "little plum," from a closet by force. When the animal bit him, he attacked her. The cat suffered traumatic brain injury and missing teeth, according to the spcaLA.
His girlfriend wasn't home at the time of the alleged attack in December but discovered her bloody cat when she got home from work. She took Umechan to a vet and the cat survived.
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