Murfreesboro Post
MURFREESBORO WEATHER

Name your price for a cat




This is one of approximately 100 cats that PAWS of Rutherford County is seeking to re-home following a police seizure.SUBMITTED

This is one of approximately 100 cats that PAWS of Rutherford County is seeking to re-home following a police seizure.SUBMITTED

You can name your own price to adopt a cat from PAWS of Rutherford County.

The animal welfare shelter is running two specials on about 100 cats that were rescued from a June 30 incident at the Joe B. Jackson Parkway Walmart, said spokeswoman Lindsay Frierson. The name-your-price special is for cats that can make pets.

PAWS is waiving the adoption fee for cats that are suited as barn or shed cats because they are not socialized; donations are welcome. About two-thirds of the cats fit this category, she said. The shelter has received a great deal of interest in the cats.

“We’ve had a good response from outside the county” for the barn cats, she said.

The socialized cats will be available for adoption once they have been fixed, Frierson said. The adoption page is at paws.rutherfordcountytn.gov. Click the “Adopt” tab and then “Available Animals.”

The Murfreesboro Police Department seized the cats June 30 at Walmart. Officers responded to the store around 5 p.m. to conduct a welfare check following a reported domestic disturbance and made contact with Damian Arthur Cecchini, 53, of Murfreesboro, a police report said. He was sitting inside a running vehicle and there was an empty 40 oz. beer container in the center console.

Upon searching the vehicle’s trailer, police found the cats, the report said. Cecchini allegedly became belligerent when officers contacted PAWS and he attempted to push an officer out of his way to enter the vehicle. He was restrained and had minor injuries. Cecchini was arrested on charges of assault, public intoxication and open container violation, as well as aggravated animal cruelty.

Kathleen Elizabeth Shanahan, 75, of Murfreesboro, who was also present, was charged with animal cruelty.

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