Editor’s note: This has been an update to this story. The abused cat, Ace, has been found. Here is the follow-up story: A cat was adopted, then abused, Palm Beach Police say. Some call for background checks.
The man wore an orange T-shirt on his head and khaki shorts as he walked along the beach on a breezy Sunday evening, pausing every now and then to wade into the ocean.
Others walking on Palm Beach’s Midtown Beach looked on in horror as they realized the man didn’t just dip his toes into the waves with each plunge into the Atlantic — instead, he stopped every 60 feet or so to dunk a cat into the water, the frantic feline kicking and panicking.
The Palm Beach Police arrested the 24-year-old West Palm Beach man in August, according to an arrest report.
Police were called to the beach near the intersection of South Ocean Boulevard and Worth Avenue just before 7 p.m. Sunday, where people told an officer a man was repeatedly submerging a cat into the water, the report said.
The officer found the man walking south along the beach and as he walked up, watched as the man gripped the cat by its back and dunked it under the water three times, the report said. The officer noted that he could tell that the cat was “under duress,” in pain and suffering from being thrust into the water.