A Florida nurse has been arrested for animal cruelty after she allegedly poisoned her neighbors’ two pet cats and a Chihuahua pregnant with eight puppies, Polk County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) mentioned.
Tamesha Knighten, 51, was arrested Wednesday for the pet deaths that occurred on Aug. 16, 2023. Authorities had been alerted after the house owners’ two cats, Luna and Pancake, died inside hours of one another. Both cats had been choking, unable to breathe, foaming from the mouth and displaying indicators of ache, the house owners mentioned.
About 4 hours later, the house owners couldn’t discover their pregnant Chihuahua named Daisy and commenced on the lookout for her. She was discovered useless, together with the puppies in her womb, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in a information launch.
“Do not, ever, poison harmless animals until, after all, you wish to go to jail as properly,” Sheriff Grady Judd mentioned throughout a information convention Friday.
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Knighten had repeatedly threatened to poison the pets in the event that they went into her yard, the house owners informed investigators. The house owners mentioned they observed her exterior the day the animals died.
Authorities discovered a white bowl with a white meaty substance combined with a dark-colored materials. Video confirmed Knighten holding the bowl with a rubber glove, Judd mentioned, and he or she referred to the dark-colored materials as her “particular seasoning.” She allegedly informed investigators she put the bowl of meals exterior to “feed animals within the space.”
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Judd mentioned it took so lengthy to get an arrest within the case as a result of investigative samples needed to be despatched to labs at three universities, which found the animals had been poisoned with a chemical referred to as Phorate.
Knighten is a licensed practical nurse working for United Health Care at Wellmed in Lakeland, PCSO mentioned. She was charged with three counts of felony animal cruelty.
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“These folks misplaced their beloved pets in a most horrific means, and he or she misplaced her freedom by going to jail,” Judd mentioned within the launch. “It takes a cold-hearted person to poison and kill two cats and a pregnant canine – it’s arduous to think about how a person within the medical area might do such a factor.”