BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – A Utah organization is offering a safe haven to Lewis the cat, a Fairfield feline whose alleged vicious attacks on neighbors have landed his owner in court.
Superior Court Judge Patrick Carroll is expected to decide Lewis' fate Tuesday when he considers an application for accelerated rehabilitation for the cat's owner, Ruth Cisero.
Neighbors say they have been terrorized by Lewis, claiming the cat's long claws and stealth have allowed it to attack at least a half-dozen people and ambush the Avon lady as she was getting out of her car.
The Best Friends Animal Society of Kanab, Utah, which claims to be the country's largest no-kill animal sanctuary, has offered to take Lewis free of charge.
"If necessary to save the life of Lewis the cat, we agree to provide Lewis with a place to live out his life at our sanctuary," Russ Mead, Best Friends' general counsel, wrote in a letter to Carroll.
Tuesday's hearing is to determine whether Cisero should get special probation and have her cat's life spared.
Another judge told Cisero she would grant her special probation on the condition that she has Lewis put to death, which Cisero has refused to do.
Eugene Riccio, Cisero's attorney, said Lewis enjoys life in southern New England and would prefer to stay here.
The sanctuary in Utah can accommodate about 600 cats in climate-controlled bungalows and has specialists who know how to handle cats with behavior problems.
Mead said Lewis would be no threat to the public in Utah because the sanctuary's closest neighbor is Denny's Wigwam, a curio shop about four miles away.
The owner of the shop, Victor Sandonato, said he has already been warned that Lewis might be moving to his neighborhood.
"I live with a cat just like Lewis, and I live with danger every time I go home at night," he said, adding, "I'm from South Jersey, so I don't take any crap from a cat."
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