Polygamous sect accused of sending cat buried alive in concrete

A man who found a kitten encased in concrete at his home fears it was sent as a threat from a polygamist Mormon sect. The tiny cat was discovered alive but audibly in pain, inside a tube in the back yard of Isaac Wyler, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Andrew Chatwin, who has also abandoned the FLDS, claimed it was intended as a warning to Mr Wyler to stop speaking out against the church.

The FLDS achieved notoriety when its leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison last year for sexually assaulting two underage girls he had 'married'. Mr Chatwin, who left the church in 1999 and has since criticised its polygamist beliefs, told said that FLDS members frequently left dead animals on Mr Wyler's property. In the latest case, six weeks ago, a cat was found buried up to its neck in concrete in a metal tube being used to construct a shade for horses in Mr Wyler's yard in Colorado City, Arizona.

It was mewling incessantly and appeared to be struggling to escape in a video filmed by Mr Chatwin and a friend. They took down the pipe and cut off the metal, leaving just a lump of concrete with the kitten's head sticking out. They then took a hammer to the concrete and hacked it off, but had to leave lumps still sticking to the fur of the terrified animal.

Contains graphic footage.

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Mr Chatwin handed the cat over to a local rescue charity, but sadly it died a few days later. When he reported the apparent abuse to a Colorado City sheriff who is allegedly a member of the FLDS, he received little help. 'He kind of chuckled and laughed a little bit and then he said that if it was up to him, he'd just throw dirt on it,' Mr Chatwin said.