Two Wal-Mart employees have been charged with felony animal cruelty after police said they followed a manager’s orders to shoot and kill a stray cat.
The men, both assistant managers at the Supercenter, were arrested and released after a court appearance Wednesday. Christopher Anderson, 29, and Jeffrey Hardin, 21, told police the store’s manager ordered them to get rid of the animal that was living in a storage trailer behind their store.
Anderson and Hardin repeatedly shot the cat with a pellet gun from the store until it died the following day, a Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Department report said.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision
FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane
All managers potentially involved in the incident have been suspended without pay pending an internal investigation and could be fired, said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sharon Weber.
“We were outraged when we learned of this incident. This kind of action is completely inconsistent with the way we do business,” she said.
FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBP leaders cut out of Trump ad buy decision
FOR SUBSCRIBERSA harrowing ordeal aboard an Israel-bound plane
A truck driver who reported the incident said he saw store employees placing what he believed to be a dead animal in shrink wrap a day after he heard workers joking about shooting the cat.
Store manager Darrel Weitzel told police he had told some of his employees to get a gun and get rid of the cat after attempts to coax it from the trailer failed, according to a police report.
Anderson and Hardin were scheduled for a hearing next Tuesday.














