• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Thursday, June 19, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Current Events

Man Gets Felony For Shooting Stray Cat With BB Gun

by Tara Dodrill
in Current Events
Print Print
man shoots stray cat gets felony
Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article
man shoots stray cat gets felony
Image source: Mlive.com

Shooting a cat with a BB gun could land you in prison with a felony charge on your record, as one Michigan man recently discovered.

Stein Samuel Nowicki, 33, had had enough of a nuisance-causing, flea-ridden stray cat that snuck into both his garbage and his house – so he grabbed his BB gun and attempted to take care of the problem.

He struck the stray cat down with one shot and, after disposing of it in his trash, considered the problem solved. What happened next surprised both Nowicki and hundreds of thousands of Americans around the country in the now viral story.

The Michigan man had a felony charge of torturing and killing an animal levied against him and was subjected to a jury trial.

During the Nowicki testified that he had contacted both the local Humane Society and the Kent County Animal Shelter for help dealing with the constant problem, MLive.com reported. He was reportedly told that he could trap the stray cat and bring it to the shelter. If Stein had gone that route, he would have been charged for the use of the trap, successful capture or not, and been required to pay a fee for “surrendering” the stray to the county agency.

Nowicki told local media that he was “flabbergasted” when BB gun shooting incident spawned criminal charges.

Everything You Need To Know To Keep Your Home And Family Safe.

“I couldn’t believe the police were kicking in my door and taking me away in handcuffs over this,” Nowicki said.

The son of the Michigan man’s live-in girlfriend has cat allergies, and being near inflames the child’s asthma. The health of the boy reportedly prompted Nowicki to fire off a warning shot to scare away the cat – but that didn’t work. Kent County Circuit Court Judge Paul Sullivan, a cat owner himself, stated during the proceedings that he was surprised to learn that shooting a cat with a BB gun could lead to a felony charge, MLive.com reported.

The judge also said that the cat did not immediately die from the BB gun wound, but was recovered from the trash by a neighbor and ultimately euthanized by country workers. According to necropsy documents, the BB damaged the internal organs of the cat and splintered the animal’s spine.

“This poor creature suffered a lot because of what you did. For anyone who likes pets or animals, this is pretty hard to fathom,” Judge Sullivan told Nowicki during the trial.

Although the judge said he did not believe Nowicki shot at the cat solely to scare it away, the court official also noted that he didn’t think the man had intended to make the animal suffer, either.

Nowicki was found guilty of a felony charge, sentenced to probation and given credit for two days served in jail. The BB gun owner is not happy with the verdict and is currently planning to appeal the decision. He could have received four years in jail.

Curt Benson is an attorney and professor at the Cooley Law School in Grand Rapids, which is home to the Animal Law Society. Benson told MLive.com that until the middle of the 1990s, most animal cruelty laws were deemed misdemeanors until legislative changes pushed for elevating such cases to felony status.

Ginny Mikita, an attorney who specializes in pet and animal laws said, “Our society values animals in such contradictory ways. Why is one animal dinner and another sleeping in a bed with us?”

How do you feel about the stray cat BB gun felony case in Michigan?

Sign up for Off The Grid News’ weekly email and stay informed about the issues important to you

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Tulsi Gabbard’s Latest ‘Nuclear Winter’ Alarm and the Gathering Storm

Tulsi Gabbard’s Latest ‘Nuclear Winter’ Alarm and the Gathering Storm

by Bill Heid

Brace for the Massive Event? I have to admit that this whole thing seems a bit odd. Is this a...

Rage for Rent: In The Great Los Angeles Riot Market

Rage for Rent: In The Great Los Angeles Riot Market

by Bill Heid

Blood Money on Craigslist? I saw the ad sometime after midnight—half-asleep, half-mad. On a tip from X, I began scrolling...

Is The Housing Market On The Verge Of Panic?

Is The Housing Market On The Verge Of Panic?

by Bill Heid

A Surplus of Sellers, a Shortage of Buyers The U.S. housing market is showing signs of imbalance, and not in...

Next Post
solar panel home value

Study Shows Solar Panels Boost A Home’s Value

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

Monsanto wheat

BREAKING: GMO Wheat Discovered In Oregon

john collins ohio police

Police Raid And Ransack Home … Then Realize They Made A Big Mistake

Feeding Time! What and When to Feed Your Chickens

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy   Terms & Conditions
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.