Southern AB man charged with animal abuse

We caution you to use discretion in this next story due to its graphic nature.

A 28-year old southern Alberta man from is facing a charge in connection to alleged animal abuse.  Nicholas Whimster of Picture Butte faces one count on injuring or endangering animals. An animal rescue organization took to social media over the weekend alleging that Whimster tortured and abused several cats, including stomping a kitten to death; another kitten dead having its limbs stretched; and four five-month-old kittens that were individually microwaved to death.

According to officials, Coaldale RCMP received a complaint of animal cruelty on January 8th.  And after further investigation officers charged the 28-year-old Whimster under Section 445 of the criminal code.  This section seeks to protect animals that are commonly kept as pets or used in various work industries, such as guard dogs or service animals. The law specifically targets individuals who have no legitimate reason to harm animals and purposefully do so.  The RCMP will not comment further on the matter. We also reached out to the Last Chance Cat Ranch who has since rescued the mother of the four babies that were microwaved, but we did not hear back at the time of publishing.

A court date has not been set.