Man admits killing homeless cats for defecating on sidewalk

PITTSBURGH – A Pittsburgh man has pleaded guilty to killing three homeless cats by leaving poisonous mothballs in his yard for them to eat because they defecated on his sidewalk.

Forty-four-year-old Daniel T. Smith pleaded guilty Tuesday to animal cruelty counts.

Police say two women who had been feeding a colony of 11 homeless cats reported in July 2015 seeing Smith put two dead cats in a trash can and seeing another cat vomiting. That cat was later euthanized.

The humane group Animal Friends had spayed, neutered and vaccinated the cats. Police say Smith told the women who fed the cats, “I killed six or eight of your cats and I’ll kill the rest of them.”

The charges carry up to five years in prison.

He will be sentenced Dec. 7.