LEWISTON, Maine — Lewiston police have charged a man with criminal cruelty to animals for allegedly trying to neuter a cat with a rubber band.
Authorities say 25-year-old Derek Edgerton, who recently moved from Lewiston to Dixfield, was charged Monday.
Animal Control Officer Wendell Strout tells the Sun Journal that Edgerton was a friend of the cat's owner and "thought he was helping him out" by trying to neuter the pet.
The Greater Androscoggin Humane Society received the cat late last month. The shelter's veterinarian discovered that someone had tried to neuter the cat with a rubber band and the area was badly infected.
The cat underwent surgery and spent a week recovering before being adopted.
Edgerton could not be reached.