Plant City man charged in near-drowning of cat

[Times photo | Stephen J. Coddington]

PLANT CITY -- Two young fishermen walked across the street from a pond to give some of their catch to Harold Gene Beall, 66. That's when they noticed a cat's paw sticking out of a barrel on his property. It was clinging to life.

The children, ages 10 and 14, told an adult, who called Hillsborough County Animal Services. Investigators went to the scene, and deputies arrested Beall and charged him with animal neglect. The barrel was on his property at 3808 McGee Road, Animal Services spokeswoman Marti Ryan said.

He later admitted to submerging the cat in water, she said.

Investigators also found a decomposing cat in a barrel, she said. The investigation is ongoing, she said, and no other information about other possible findings is being released.

Beall was released from jail this morning, and Animal Services plans to prosecute his case.

The cat wasn't his, he said, so Animal Services is treating it like a stray. But it wasn't feral, Ryan said -- it's too friendly. They're holding it for five days so an owner can claim it. If no one does, they'll go a medical check and put it up for adoption.

"Thank goodness the young fishermen had been observant and been proactive and humane to notify the adults in the household and have them call us, because certainly we would have never known," Ryan said. "Our feeling is that this cat would have met an untimely demise."

-- Jessica Vander Velde, Times staff writer

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