Residents and animal advocates involved in verbal clash at vigil for cat

Hundreds of residents of Paterson, New Jersey, and animal advocates clashed verbally on Thursday night during a memorial for a cat that was tortured by a group of schoolboys last month, the continuation of a heated debate over whether the children should face criminal charges. The scene was contentious - with some Patersonians holding signs reading “Go the hell home” and yelling at the top of their lungs to a crowd gathered a few feet away for a candlelight vigil outside the police station. At one point, the two sides - separated by barriers and watched over by police - chanted competing messages: “We love our children” on the left, “Quattro” on the right.



As many as six boys allegedly cornered the grey-and-white male cat in an alley on May 7, and pelted him with stones and chunks of concrete, according to two boys who said they intervened to stop the attack. Renee Olah, an animal rescue worker, later took in the badly injured cat, who came to be called Quattro. Police have said they want to question other boys who may have been involved and that the investigation is continuing. At least some of the alleged attackers were suspended by the school district and are to receive counselling. Olah said the purpose of Thursday’s vigil was to memorialize the cat and other animals that are abused. It was also an opportunity to promote “Quattro’s Law,” a proposal to clarify the reporting process of animal abuse in towns across New Jersey.



The family of two boys who rescued the injured cat said they called police twice the night he was attacked, but they did not see any police units arrive. Quattro’s injuries were so severe that he eventually became unresponsive and was euthanized. In the days after the attack, Olah started “Justice for Quattro,” a Facebook group that has supported animal cruelty charges prosecutors filed against three boys, ages 6, 10 and 12. The group organized the vigil and has helped raise more than $7,000 for the family of Quattro’s rescuers. A throng of Paterson officials and the city chapter of the NAACP are calling for the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office to drop the criminal case, and repeated that message with vigor in their protest of the vigil.


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A group that rivalled the size of the animal advocates said prayers, sang gospel music and argued against the “demonization and criminalization” of the cat’s abusers. More than 250 people showed up for the vigil and protest. The racial divide between the conflicting sides was stark – the protesters being mostly black and the animal advocates mainly white. The protesters said the “outsiders” wanted their children punished. Participants of the vigil said their event was about honouring Quattro and putting a spotlight on animal cruelty. The protesters yelled at them to go home. For all the contention, the two sides came together on one point – condemning hateful online comments, including racial epithets, about the cat’s attackers.