North Texas employee faces animal cruelty charges after 80 kittens died in care: police

A former North Texas animal shelter employee faces charges of animal cruelty after an investigation into the deaths of 80 kittens over a period of five months, officials said.

Gabriel Caswell, 21, was arrested July 14 and July 29 and faces two charges of cruelty to animals, the Weatherford Police Department said in a news release Thursday.

Over the past few months, the Weatherford Parker County Animal Shelter experienced an unexplained increase in kitten deaths, according to the release. At first staff attributed the deaths to disease, but testing and necropsies of the dead kittens showed no disease was present.

“Staff installed additional HVAC systems, ensured proper cleaning procedures were followed, reviewed the chemicals in all cleaning products, implemented new policies and closely tracked every missing or deceased animal,” officials said in the release.

The mysterious deaths continued until an employee saw a coworker, identified in the release as Caswell, mistreating a kitten on July 14. Shelter staff immediately notified police and confronted Caswell, who left the scene before officers arrived.

Police reviewed video footage and “determined that a criminal offense had occurred,” according to the release. Officers arrested Caswell the same day on an animal cruelty charge.

Caswell was arrested again on July 29 on an additional animal cruelty charge after investigators reviewed more video footage, police said.

The videos showed Caswell beating one kitten and then throwing it in the trash, and seriously injuring another kitten that a veterinarian later told police would probably die of a severed spine, according to arrest warrant affidavits obtained by the Weatherford Democrat.

Shelter data shows that at least 80 kittens have died since February, the month Caswell was hired, Star-Telegram media partner WFAA-TV reported. The shelter normally averages about 20 kitten deaths per year, officials told WFAA.

“Our shelter staff and volunteers take great pride in the love and care provided to the animals that visit our shelter,” shelter officials said in the release. “For something like this to happen is unfathomable, and we are heartbroken by the harm caused.”

The investigation is ongoing, officials said.