News media really is incredible. I mean, there’s nothing like having a wonderful day and turning on the 6 o’clock news to lose your faith in humanity.

Sure, for many of us what we see on television doesn’t come as a surprise. We’re all pretty well aware of what’s going on in the Middle East. We know that the economy is in the toilet. Yeah, yeah, yeah…

As I watched the news last night, I wasn’t surprised to see the same old stuff: shooting, robbery, fire, economy, Obama, missing person, rape, cat serial killer.

Cat serial killer?

An 18-year-old in Miami is suspected of killing (the better word is mutilating, in my opinion) neighborhood cats.

What is known is that someone is responsible for a killing spree that has left many cats dead. Whether it is this man or not is still under investigation.

The suspect, Tyler Weinman, appeared in court Monday and is facing 19 counts of animal cruelty, four charges of burglary and 19 counts of improperly disposing of animal carcasses. If convicted, he could be facing more than 150 years in jail. That’s right, 150.

Before I make any type of joke about cat people being a little bit weird, let me admit that I have a cat. I would be very heartbroken if my cat were to die, especially in a brutal way. However, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t be saying half of the things that people are saying on this topic. Miami New Times collected some of these ridiculous threats, which include such goodies as:
– “”He should be sprayed down with raw meat juices and then put in a cage with the mountain cougar along with our other large feline friends.”
– “Keep Guantanamo open just for this guy. Hood him and waterboard him! Obama will understand.”
– “Tie him up, cover him in Fancy Feast, and let 300 hungry stray cats go at him.” (My personal favorite.)

Really? I’m about animal rights the same as the next guy but…are you serious?

There were no angry people voicing their opinion on the serial rapist. There were no people urging Guantanamo to stay open for the man that opened fire in the Holocaust Museum, and I want to know why.

(Let’s not even discuss that there are men and women running around – convicted rapists – that served maybe a quarter of the sentence that Weinman is facing. One quarter!)

It’s slowly been happening over the years, we’re becoming less interested in the rights of people and more interested in the rights of animals. The Sarah McGlachlan animal cruelty commercials are breaking our hearts more than the Feed the Children commercials. We’re more willing to help a hurt animal on the side of the road than help our neighbor who has no food.

The only reason I can come up with is that we have lost all faith in humanity. Is it because we see people doing all of these terrible things on the news every day? We all must believe that people are intrinsically bad and that animals are intrinsically good.

I guess we figure that rape, murder and robbery will be a part of all of our lives forever. But, kitty killing… that’s just unacceptable.