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Authorities in northern Arizona have opened an animal cruelty investigation after a kitten was found buried alive in concrete in a bizarre incident that may stem from a conflict between members and former members of a polygamous Mormon sect.

Andrew Chatwin, a former member of the sect, said he found the kitten buried up to its chest in concrete inside a steel support post for a horse shelter he was building in Colorado City, one of two polygamist-dominated towns on the Arizona-Utah border, in late May. The kitten later died.

On Wednesday the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, based in Kingman, Arizona, announced it has launched its own investigation of the case.

Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, are home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway Mormon sect led by now-imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, convicted or raping two underage girls in a polygamist marriage.

The twin towns made headlines last month when the US Justice Department sued them, alleging that the police agency serving them had sometimes deployed deputies to confront sect members about their disobedience to sect rules or to tell them to report to the sect leadership.

Deputies also failed to arrest sect members who committed crimes against non-members such as destroying their crops or trespassing, the suit added. An attorney representing the church denied the allegations.

People who have left the church say dead animals have been tossed on their property in the past in an attempt to intimidate them.

Both Chatwin and his friend, Issac Wyler, are former church members and have worked with authorities to expose alleged criminal and civil injustices within the community, and have previously complained of retaliation.

Chatwin, who left the church after disagreements with Jeffs about a dozen years ago, said he set the 7-foot-high, 8-inch round pole on the afternoon of May 30 and found the kitten the next morning set in concrete up to its chest.

“There’s no way that cat could have climbed up there on it’s own,” said Chatwin. “It’s definitely in my opinion a hate message or a death message against Issac, because he’s been outspoken.”

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) offered on Thursday a $2500 reward for the arrest and conviction of those responsible in the case.

The incident came to light earlier this month after a video surfaced on YouTube of the effort to free the animal. It shows a small white kitten trapped up to its chest in hardening concrete inside the pipe.

The cat, with its head thrown back and one leg and paw free, mews incessantly. It was freed after six hours but died days later in a Utah animal rescue center.

Over the past seven years, both Chatwin and Wyler have complained publicly of harassment by FLDS members, which has increased scrutiny of the church and the twin border towns, which have more than 8800 residents, most of them sect members.

A Salt Lake City-based attorney who represents the FLDS on Thursday denied any church connection to the incident and said Chatwin’s characterization of the incident underscores the bitter discord that exists between current and former members.

“We know that there is a dead cat and a lot of questions, but that’s all there is. Nobody knows who did it, or if it was even done intentionally,” attorney Rod Parker said.

“To suggest that the FLDS had anything to do with it is a gross example of how things involving that community are distorted beyond reason,” he added.

Chatwin said the May 31 incident was not an isolated event and that dead animals have been found tossed in Wyler’s yard or on his front porch in recent years.

In most instances, Chatwin said, the acts occurred after he or Wyler had some disagreement with FLDS member, usually related to the enforcement of a Utah court order that governs property use in the towns.

Those incidents, as well as the trapped kitten, were all reported to the town marshal’s office, Chatwin said. “It’s uncalled for to use little animals to send a message like this,” Chatwin said.

Colorado City police conducted an investigation, but Parker said it has stalled due to a lack of evidence.

Jeffs was convicted in Texas last year of raping two underage girls he wed in “spiritual marriages,” and is now is serving a term of life plus 20 years in prison.

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Fri May 24 15:16:16 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 13, 2012

porterfield

I’m always curious why the media refers to the polygamous sects in Arizona and Utah as Mormon. They don’t refer to themselves as such, and neither does the LDS Church. Mormons were the Latter-day Saints who followed Brigham Young to the Utah valley. The current polygamous sects have no connection at all.
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Jul 13, 2012

informedreader

Disturbing article...but even more disturbing is the headline! These are NOT Mormons. These are people who are of the FLDS sect. Responsible media includes using correct terms when referring to religious groups. Please clean up your headline!
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Jul 15, 2012

coltakashi

I add my concern to that expressed by informedreader. The 14 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints include hundreds of thousands of people in Africa, and they are being unfairly slandered by your use of the term "Mormon" in your headline. The LDS Church prints the Book of Mormon, it has the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and its many popular musical recordings, it includes many famous Mormons including USA presidential candidate Mitt Romney, musician Gladys Knight, and many others. It sponsors Brigham Young University. It is the LDS Church which has invested in making the nickname "Mormon" a name that is associated with good people who are faithful Christians. It is totally unfair to associate that good name with the deprivations of the polygamist people who are the avowed enemies of the real Mormons. Any person discovered to be associating with polygamists is excommunicated from the LDS Church. Using the name "Mormon" in this way is like calling a Lutheran a Catholic.
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