BLOOMFIELD, N.M. (AP) — A wildlife officer in New Mexico has been arrested after police say he allegedly decapitated a 9-week-old gray kitten at his home in Bloomfield, authorities said.
Jicarilla Apache Game & Fish employee Joseph Weaver, 40, was arrested on a fourth-degree felony charge of extreme cruelty to animals, The Farmington Daily Times reported.
The Bloomfield Police Department said in a statement that officers responded to a home Sunday for a welfare check when they found Weaver’s family distraught about the kitten.
Police said Weaver’s wife told officers that he called her into the bedroom where she saw him standing with a pocketknife in his hand and the kitten floating in the bathroom sink with its head detached. Weaver was off duty at the time of the incident.
Officers found the kitten wrapped in a towel, a bloody pocketknife and blood on the bathroom wall, authorities said.
Weaver’s attorney, Arlon Stoker, declined to comment on the case. A county jail document indicates Weaver was released from custody.
Weaver appeared in Aztec Magistrate Court on Monday. A preliminary examination is scheduled for Jan. 21.
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