Hamburg, N.Y. (WBEN) A Hamburg woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge in connection with the deaths of two kittens and the severe injury of a third.
Moriah Taylor, 39, also known as Joseph Taylor, was sentenced to a conditional discharge after admitting to attempted aggravated cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor under New York State Agriculture and Markets Law.
Police said Taylor’s ex-girlfriend called them on Jan. 17, 2024, asking officers to check on Taylor, her two adult cats and three kittens at her apartment in the 4500 block of Southwestern Boulevard.
Officers found the three kittens inside a pillowcase buried in snow on the apartment balcony, police said. Taylor was found in a nearby parking lot.
The kittens were taken to the Orchard Park Veterinary Medical Center. Two died, and the third was in critical condition with hypothermia and/or asphyxiation, according to police.
The two dead kittens were sent to Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where a necropsy found they died from asphyxiation and/or hypothermia.
The surviving kitten was later adopted by a veterinarian.
As part of the sentence, the judge issued Taylor a three-year order prohibiting him from owning animals.
