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MURRAY — A man who police say trapped five kittens and threw two of them in a garbage can while they were still alive was arrested over the weekend.
On Saturday, Murray police were called to 5499 S. Spurrier Road where neighbors had found two kittens alive in a garbage can, according to a Salt Lake County Jail report. The kittens were stuck to a "sticky rat trap," or sticky paper used traditionally for catching mice and rats.
Police talked to Stephen Patrick Lacy, 63, who said there were three more kittens stuck to a single sticky rat trap in the carport area. Lacy said he set the traps to catch the kittens and admitted to putting two of them in the garbage, claiming that he thought they were dead, the report states.
Witnesses, however, told officers they could still hear the kittens in the trash can and that there were leaves placed over them in an apparent attempt to conceal them.
Police say all five kittens were trapped but uninjured.
Lacy told police he thought there was a feral cat problem in the area and he was trying to take care of it, said Murray police detective Jeff Maglish. Maglish said the proper way to take care of such a problem is to contact an animal rescue organization so the cats could be captured humanely.
It was unknown Monday whether Lacy had attempted to capture any cats prior to Saturday.
Lacy was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of five counts of torture of a companion animal.
