Cat in the Microwave

It was an act of doting love. You know -- that lady who shampooed her french poodle and wanted to fluff it up ever so nicely, so she put it in the microwave. Poof! Dog gone.
Of course, this is just an urban legend; who in hell would ever deliberately put a pet in a microwave anyway??
Turns out some kids in Camrose would, and did. Broke into a house, vandalized it, stole some things, and before they left, felt it necessary to put the family pet cat into the microwave oven.
Now, as much as I find such an act vile and horrific, I take exception to the animal rights folks who are speaking up about it.
I am convinced that kids who deliberately harm animals have serious psychological issues, and given our society's seeming inability to deal with such things, these kids will likely grow up to be perverts or violent offenders who do little good and lots of harm, costing us taxpayers millions.
That said, I have issues with the SPCA activist who exclaimed indignantly that this was animal abuse, and that the poor cat must have suffered horribly.
Prolonged cases of animal abuse are always heartbreaking. Starving them, beating them or neglecting them over weeks and months. Mercifully, this cat was loved and treated well by its owners, never knowing abuse until the very end. Grabbing a pet and shoving it into a deadly cubicle constitutes abuse, but in no way approaches the sad and horrific lives of some poor creatures. Of course this doesn't make it right.
How long the cat was in the microwave remains unknown to the general public. Perhaps he got dizzy as he rode the turntable, but given the nature and purpose of microwaves, his suffering would have been brief. Awful, but brief. Someone should tell that to the emotionally scarred, sobbing animal lover I saw on TV.
The indignance of these activists smacks of opportunism. Jumping on a soapbox and pounding their fists in the name of defending helpless animals is insincere and helps no one. Yes it was wrong. But to pontificate at length about the abuse and the horrific suffering, and say that the laws aren't strict enough for pet killers? If we spend all our time thinking about how the cat must have looked in the microwave when it was discovered, we miss the point. Accountability. Responsibility.
While these activists are insisting on tougher laws for animal abusers, teens who kill other teens are out on bail or given conditional sentences or probation. Defenders of the Youth Justice system are currently upset that the names of two teens who savagely knifed another Toronto teen, are being revealed on Facebook.
I think the names of the cat killers should be revealed, too. It won't bring the cat back, but it would force the perpetrators to take some ownership, wouldn't it?
What are we trying to do in keeping secret the names of criminals under the age of 18? Like we don't want them to get embarrassed? Well, yes, we do. That, and more.