The reward is now up to $1,450, and Brownie will be appearing (via
satellite) on Saturday's edition of NBC's Today Show:

Cat hit by arrow to appear on 'Today Show'
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Yesterday at 5:57pm
By Bethany Nolan
331-4373 |
9/3/2009

Brownie the cat, who is doing well following surgery to remove an arrow
from his head, will appear on NBC's "Today Show" Saturday morning.

Monroe County Humane Association CEO Sarah Hayes said the organization has
received an outpouring of public support and donations after Brownie's
story went national, enabling it to raise the reward for information
leading to the conviction of those responsible for injuring the cat from
$500 to $1,450.

She said her office has been inundated with calls from local and national
media - including "The Today Show," the New York Daily News and People
magazine - as well as from concerned citizens, including a farmer who
tearfully told her he planned to sell more of his soybeans so he could
have additional funds to donate. Even someone from Washington, D.C.,
called to offer an opinion on the type of arrow found sticking through
Brownie's head, she said.

"People are enraged, sickened and sad, and they want to do something about
it," Hayes said. "People want to make this situation right."

She said Brownie is being cared for by Monroe County animal control
officer Rebecca Brown, as his owner is elderly and the cat required
special care following his surgery. But she saw the 4-year-old orange and
white tabby Wednesday when he visited her office, and said he looked well.

"He's doing great, just great," Hayes said. "He was hanging out with our
office dogs - he loves dogs - purring, and he likes to be held."

She said she's been amazed by the news coverage of Brownie's injury, and
said she hopes it draws attention to animal cruelty issues. "While some
people found the images (of Brownie with an arrow through his head)
upsetting - and they are hard to look at - these are the reality of what
happens to animals," she said.

Casey Shake with Town and Country Vet Hospital, the veterinarian who
operated to remove the arrow from Brownie's head, admitted today he's a
"little shocked" at all the media attention the story has received.

The true hero in the situation, he said, is Brownie.

"It amazes me every day, the pain tolerance that animals have. They're a
lot tougher than people," he said. "And the unconditional love that an
animal can show. I think I'd probably be mad at the world if I was that
cat. But he was purring when he came in, and purring when he left. I guess
he made the best of his situation."

Brownie, Shake and Hayes will are set to appear via satellite in an 8 a.m.
segment during Saturday's broadcast, which will air locally on Channel 13.













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Humane association offering reward to find person who shot cat with
arrow
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Yesterday at 3:27pm
Cat recovering after arrow pierces head
Humane association offering reward to find person who shot arrow
By Nicole Brooks
331-4232 |
9/1/2009

Brownie, a 4-year-old tabby, returned to his owner last week with an
arrow stuck in his head, his fur matted with dried blood.

The cat had been shot. Sarah Hayes with the Monroe County Humane
Association announced today that the organization is offering up $500 to
anyone with information that leads to the conviction of the person or
persons responsible.

"It's just horrible, and whoever did this, they need to be charged,"
Hayes, the association's CEO, said. Hayes has seen animals in terrible
condition and pain, but "This one's new," she said.

The arrow had likely been shot into Brownie's head a few days before he
came trotting back to his owner last Monday, as the wounds were already
infected, said Monroe County Sheriff's Department officer Rebecca Brown.

The incident probably happened on the far southeast side of Bloomington,
off East Stipp Road, Brown said. And Brown believes this instance of
animal cruelty was deliberate.
"Anybody hunting wouldn't have been that low to the ground," she said.
The person who did it can be charged with animal cruelty, a class B
misdemeanor, Brown said.

Brownie had surgery at Bloomington's Town and Country Vet Hospital the
day after he was found. Veterinarian Casey Shake said the arrow had
entered just above Brownie's right eye and went through the cat's skin,
tissue and some muscles. X-rays showed the arrow just skimmed Brownie's
skull, Shake said. It exited in front of Brownie's left ear.

Someone, not the cat's owner, had cut the pointed end of the arrow
before Brownie was brought to the vet. The arrow had loosened, Shake
said.

"It could slide back and forth. It slid right out."
Shake anesthetized the cat and pulled the arrow out - and while he was
at it, he neutered Brownie, for free. "I figured that would take his
mind off his headache."

Shake then left the wounds open to drain, and treated them to ward off
infection.
"The next day that cat was amazing," he said. Brownie was purring, ready
to eat and drink, and wanted love. Shake said Brownie will have no brain
damage or vision loss.

"That cat should make a complete recovery," he said. "I have never seen
anything quite like that. It was definitely bizarre."

Brownie is recovering and will be reunited with his owner in a few days,
Brown said.
The cat's owner is in the hospital, recovering from a procedure on
Monday, said a caretaker who assists the man. He should be home by
Friday.

The Monroe County Humane Association paid for Brownie's surgery with
money from the group's Olivia Animal Protection and Rescue Fund, Hayes
said. The fund was set up in memory of Olivia, one of several cats set
on fire in 1997 by a group of teens. Olivia's vet bills cost her owners
thousands of dollars, and the cat died despite efforts to save her.

Hayes said this is the second time in three or four years the
association has offered a reward for information leading to an animal
cruelty conviction.

"As long as the funds are available to do that, we obviously want to do
that any time we can. We definitely want to charge somebody who does
something horrible like this."

A $300 reward was offered for information on Clover the goat, who in
2006 was dumped at the end of a dead-end county road to either starve or
be killed by coyotes or dogs.

The crippled goat was found with a missing left rear leg and with its
front legs frozen in a bent position.

Clover died and no one ever came forward with information about the
animal's mistreatment and abandonment.

Hayes hopes this time is different.

"A lot of people had to have noticed a cat with a full-sized arrow
through its head."

No one seems to be sure just what the arrow is made of, although
sheriff's deputies guess it is a graphite arrow.

Can you help?

Anyone with information about Brownie's wounds is asked to call Monroe
County Sheriff's Department Officer Rebecca Brown at 349-2585. The
Monroe County Humane Association is offering a $500 reward to anyone
with information that leads to the conviction of the person or persons
responsible.
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