Traffic stop saves cat from owner’s plate

Updated: August 10, 2010, 1:53 PM



Buffalo police rescued a cat from a Cheektowaga man who apparently was planning to make a meal out of his pet because he thought it was ill-tempered, authorities said Monday.

When Ferry-Fillmore District officers pulled over a car driven by Gary L. Korkuc on Sunday night during a traffic stop, they said they heard a cat crying from inside the trunk and investigated.

What they found has left animal lovers at the SPCA Serving Erie County in shock.

The cat, according to police, was in a cage “marinating” in a mixture of crushed red peppers, chili pepper, salt and oil.

“It’s disgusting. It surprises me every day what people are capable of when it comes to violence, whether it is animals or people,” said Gina M. Browning, the SPCA’s director of public relations. “I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”

Korkuc, 51, was arrested on one count of cruelty to animals by Officers Jerry Guilian and John Poisson, shortly after he was stopped on the 1100 block of Broadway at about 7:45 p. m. for allegedly passing a stop sign.

Police took the 4-year-old cat to the SPCA on Ensminger Road in the Town of Tonawanda, where Korkuc had adopted it May 11. He told police the cat had been “mean” to him, authorities said.

In condemning the treatment of the cat, whose name is Navarro, Browning read from an SPCA memo put together in part from information provided by the officers and shelter staff:

“Do not under any circumstances adopt to this man ever again. He claims he did not want the cat because it was ‘possessive, greedy and wasteful.’ That the cat got pregnant after ‘spaying,’ even though it was a neutered male. This man is a danger to animals. . . . was soaking cat in marinade to ‘cook.’ ”

Workers at the SPCA gave Navarro two baths Sunday night to clean the spices off and were letting him calm down before bathing him again, Browning said late Monday, adding that the cat is adjusting well.

“We can learn lessons in resiliency. He is purring away and getting ready for his next checkup. He’s looking around like, ‘What am I doing here?’ He might be put [back] up for adoption,” Browning said.

Praising Guilian and Poisson, she added, “Thank God that police heard him. Thank God those cops took the initiative. By all appearances that cat may have wound up dead.”

Korkuc was also charged with passing a stop sign and failure to signal. After his arrest, he was later released on an appearance ticket.

Navarro has black and white markings, weighs 12 pounds and is described as having a good disposition. Adoption hours today at the SPCA, 205 Ensminger, are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.


http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article97630.ece

Cat moves off menu, into home
By Jay Rey
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Published:August 11 2010, 8:27 AM

Updated: August 11, 2010, 8:50 AM

Navarro the cat is safe and sound in his new home.

Rescued Sunday from a man who was preparing the cat as a meal, the 4-year-old feline was adopted Tuesday through the SPCA Serving Erie County by Vickie Dankowski of Cheektowaga.

"I woke up [Tuesday] and read the article in The Buffalo News and couldn't believe what I was reading," Dankowski said. "I said, 'I think I might want to adopt him.'"

When Buffalo police pulled over a car driven by Gary L. Korkuck on Sunday night, they heard a cat crying from inside the trunk. Officers investigated and found Navarro in a cage "marinating" in a mixture of crushed red peppers, chili pepper, salt and oil.

Korkuck, 51, of Cheektowaga, had adopted the cat from the SPCA in May. Korkuck allegedly told police the cat was "mean" to him, and he didn't want it anymore because it was "possessive, greedy and wasteful." Korkuck was charged with one count of cruelty to animals.

"We've heard of some really bizarre stories, but nothing like this," said Gina M. Browning, the SPCA's director of public relations. "It's clearly not someone who was in his right mind."

Navarro was turned over to the SPCA, and since his story appeared in The News, the domestic short hair has become somewhat of a local celebrity.

"The phone was ringing all morning," Browning said Tuesday. "Some people were checking on him. Others were asking if they could adopt him."

Dankowski went to the SPCA on Ensminger Road in the Town of Tonawanda at noon Tuesday to inquire about adopting Navarro, but a Kenmore woman was already first in line.

After talking to Dankowski, the Kenmore woman who already had two cats and a dog agreed to let her adopt Navarro.

Dankowski returned to the SPCA after work Tuesday to pick him up and take him home. "The timing was right," she said.

Dankowski, a deputy clerk for the Town of Cheektowaga, had two cats, but one died in March. She has been considering adopting a second cat as company for her 6-year-old female, Anna Belle.

"I got him home now, and he's just looking and exploring like crazy," she said Tuesday night. "He's really passive and not aggressive at all."

He has a new bed, a new litter box and a new name: Oliver.

"He's all black, but he has white under his chin, on all his paws and on his chest," Dankowski said. "They bathed him so many times to get the spices out, so he feels so soft. He's absolutely beautiful."


http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article98684.ece

Call me sadistic and insensitive, but I find this story really, really funny. Granted, if I was there I wouldn't have found it amusing at all, but this story beats the best Monty Python satire out there.

All joking aside though, the man is obviously mentally disturbed and shouldn't have been allowed to have the cat in the first place. At least he didn't kill the cat before he marinated it!

The eating of the cat isn't that strange at all. Cats are eaten in many cultures, and apparantly taste like rabbit. I don't know, do you eat rabbit out there? I've always found it strange that eating rabbit (here anyway) is considered completely normal, while it's also a pet like cats and dogs, who are not eaten. Must be a history thing (bunnies to eat, cats to catch mice, dogs to hunt and protect...).
Anyway in WWII many cats dissapeared when food was scarce. You can't taste the difference, but you can see it in the bones (cats have rounded bones, rabbits oval).

Now, marinating the cat alive (what was he gonna do, eat the fur and all??)... eating it because it was "mean"... and after adopting it as a pet... The man must be missing something in his head ... might be the best not to let him have any pets at all...

Katrien, I've eaten bobcat before, and honestly it reminded me of pork more than rabbit. It's a pale meat and honestly doesn't taste that good, no matter how you cook it. I can't imagine domestic cat would be much different.

Cats, dogs, and horses are domesticated animals just like cows. It's our culture that prohibits the eating of these animals, but in all honesty what's the difference between eating them versus eating a sheep, goat, or cow? Horse meat is extremely popular in Europe and is in the top 3 meats in the world (just under beef and elk). So yeah, it's completely a value judgment.

Marinating the cat alive is a new one though, but we've established that this guy had a few screws loose. And yes, when you're starving, ANYTHING is food. Survival is paramount over cultural prohibitions.

In some cultures (or at least certain groups within those cultures) they torture the animal (dog/cat) prior to making grub out of it. They do such things as boil it alive or tie a rope around its neck until it slowly suffocates. Some do this believing that the adrenaline saturated meat will make it taste better. Others take a more superstitious approach and think that the animals fear will give power/strength to whoever eats it.

Originally Posted by Kalie

Anyway in WWII many cats dissapeared when food was scarce.

Same thing with one of my favorite dog breeds (English Mastiffs). After the 2nd world war, there were VERY few of them remaining (one or two dozen). People couldn't feed themselves, let alone a 180+ pound dog. Fortunately, though, they were able to restore the breed.

story made me cry, I'm glad it had a happy ending (the cat was saved and found a home, hopefully a good one this time).

I don't care if people want to eat them in other cultures; I eat cow, pig and chicken, my step-brother has tried dog; but no animal deserves to suffer.

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

but no animal deserves to suffer.

**except maybe some specific humans that is...

Usually the reasoning behind eating rabbits, and not cats would be that rabbits are prey animals, cats are predetors. Normally we don't eat predetors, although some people eat bears, I can't think of many others(right off the top of my head).

Myself, I like humane killing of the animal to be consumed. I'm not going to fault another culture for not eating the same types of food that I eat. People often glamorize certain species and then become dismayed when other people don't raise them to the same pedestals.

That said, the guy in the story had to be whacko, because anyone who really intended to eat a cat wouldn't be marinating it alive, in the car trunk. Hopefully that means that he hasn't done this multiple times, and I hope no one adopts him more pets.

Originally Posted by snowgyre

Katrien, I've eaten bobcat before, and honestly it reminded me of pork more than rabbit. It's a pale meat and honestly doesn't taste that good, no matter how you cook it. I can't imagine domestic cat would be much different.

Cats, dogs, and horses are domesticated animals just like cows. It's our culture that prohibits the eating of these animals, but in all honesty what's the difference between eating them versus eating a sheep, goat, or cow? Horse meat is extremely popular in Europe and is in the top 3 meats in the world (just under beef and elk). So yeah, it's completely a value judgment.

Marinating the cat alive is a new one though, but we've established that this guy had a few screws loose. And yes, when you're starving, ANYTHING is food. Survival is paramount over cultural prohibitions.

Well I have never eaten cat myself, so I can't say for sure. Just always heard that it was sold as rabbit and you could not taste the difference. So maybe that's a myth, or else it might be the difference between feral and "tame"? Wild boar tastes very different from porc, wild rabbit tastes very different from tame. Could it maybe be the same for cats and bobcats?
I'm not going to try it out

And indeed horse is popular here. I rather like it myself too.