Milo man sentenced to 48 hours in jail for cruelty in kitten death

DOVER-FOXCROFT – A Milo man was sentenced to 48 hours in jail Monday for choking a 12-week-old kitten, which later died.

Judge Kevin Stitham found Daniel Lord, 41, guilty of cruelty to animals Monday during a trial in 13th District Court. Lord had entered a not guilty plea.

Police said the incident occurred on Aug. 22 after Lord’s wife visited a Gould Street mobile home to retrieve fund-raising catalogs she had left there. A 14-year-old girl, who was baby-sitting at the Gould Street home, answered the door and advised the woman to return when the owners were home.

Lord’s wife returned to her home and told her husband, who “stormed across the park” to the mobile home to get the books, according to an affidavit filed with the court. As Lord approached the mobile home, the baby-sitter called her mother to tell her what was happening and left the line open so her mother could hear the commotion, according to the report.

The baby-sitter told police that she tried to keep Lord out of the mobile home, but while he was there, a black and white kitten scooted out the door. She said Lord picked the kitten up by the throat and “tossed” it on the landing of the mobile home. The kitten died about an hour later, according to police.

Valerie Robertson, Milo’s animal control officer, responded to the call and retrieved the kitten. She took the kitten’s body to Foxcroft Veterinary Services in Dover-Foxcroft where veterinarian Ronald Miles Jr. conducted an autopsy. His examination revealed that the kitten’s thoracic cavity had pulmonary emphysema in all lung lobes. Emphysema is an obstructive airway disorder that results from destruction of the airways. Acute or sudden emphysema can result from chest or head injury, as well as a sudden pulmonary obstruction.

Robertson said Miles likened the cause of death as perhaps something akin to shaken baby syndrome in humans.