Police have made an arrest after the discovery of a female cat found burned and tied up in a cornfield in Lafayette, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis.
The Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County Indiana said on its Facebook page Thursday that on Wednesday night, the cat was found tied up with rope, doused in gasoline and set on fire.
WXIN reported that animal welfare workers think the cat survived because she was able to make her way to a puddle. She had a firecracker laying on top of her that did not go off.
"Her ears are shriveled. Her fur is gone down to the skin,"Misha Anderson, director of the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County, told WXIN. "She landed in a mud puddle. So I think that slowed down the fire or at least dampened her fur, which caused the only flames to be gasoline so all the fur is mostly singed."
WRTV reported that Noah A. Riley, 19, was arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
The cat is receiving round-the-clock care at Purdue University's veterinary intensive-care unit.
Anderson said Friday that although the cat's health deteriorated overnight, she would have a feeding tube. Donations helped cover the bill for her care that was about $1,000. More than $8,000 has been donated.
"She is purring and loving on us; she is pain free with meds," Anderson said on Facebook.
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