When it comes to cats, most people either love them or hate them.
Even those who dislike cats would never intentionally do terrible things to one.
But what this sick Florida man did to his cat at a public park landed him in the slammer.
Evidence suggests that humans have lived alongside cats for 12,000 years.
In Ancient Egypt, domesticated cats were celebrated and esteemed by members of society.
According to the website Mental Floss, cats also had important jobs in ancient societies.
“People introduced cats to libraries to prevent mice and other creatures from eating and damaging precious manuscripts,” Mental Floss reported. “As the friendly felines spread throughout the world, they put their pest-hunting prowess to work in various collections across the continents.”
Along with dogs, cats are the most common type of domesticated pets in the United States.
Studies show that 34% of households, 42.7 million, in the United States have a pet cat.
House cats share over 95% of their genetic makeup with tigers and exhibit many of the same behaviors, such as stalking and pouncing on prey and marking their territory with urine.
Most cats do not like getting wet or being put in water.
But one Florida man recently did more than just wet his cat at a public park.
Britton Wayne Bush, 47, brought his cat in a cage with him to Grady Brown Park in Freeport, Florida.
Witnesses found it strange to see a man walking through the park while carrying a cage with a cat inside of it.
And they thought it was even stranger when they saw him leaving moments later with no cage and no cat.
“According to investigators, witnesses said they saw Bush walking through the park carrying a trap with a cat inside on Wednesday,” AOL reported. “Moments later, deputies say the witnesses saw Bush leave without the animal and called authorities.”
The witnesses decided to call the authorities and report the incident to the police and animal control.
Once at the park, the deputy and animal control officer searched around and discovered a dead cat in a cage that had been thrown in the water and drowned.
The cat was “purposely thrown and drowned in the water,” a deputy said.
Deputies were able to figure out who the man was and went to his home in Freeport where he was arrested on animal cruelty charges.
The officers found another cat inside of his home and removed it for safety reasons.
Bush is currently locked up in the Walton County Jail where he belongs.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
