PORT RICHEY, Fla. — Hundreds of people online have shared claims of animal cruelty in Pasco County. "Tobo" the cat has gotten a lot of attention on Facebook.
A woman said she saw a 20-year-old man repeatedly toss Tobo into the water at Brasher Park in Port Richey on Sunday.
"Proceeds to throw the cat 8 feet into the water," Sherrie Kawa recalled.
Kawa snapped this picture of the cat.
"I asked him what is your problem, I get out and go up to him and he proceeds to take the cat and fling it in the water one more time," Kawa said.
Kawa said the cat ran out of the water and into a bush, but saw the man grab the cat and then she said he confronted her.
"He says what are you going to do about it?" Kawa recalled.
That’s when Kawa said she contacted Port Richey Police and posted to Facebook. It quickly gained hundreds of views.
Two people saw the post and wanted to help the cat. Callista Durrett and Denisse Richters tracked down the family of Tobo. They came to an agreement to give Tobo to the two women.
"He was saying that he was just trying to see if he could swim," Durrett said.
The family of the man told the same thing to 10 Tampa Bay. The man's father profusely apologized for what his son did and told 10 Tampa Bay his son doesn’t have a history of hurting animals.
Tobo appears to be uninjured and the two women are now working to find him a safe place to live. Kawa said Port Richey Police didn’t press charges against the man because there wasn’t enough evidence.
The Port Richey Police Department said on Facebook it is looking into the report of animal cruelty, but said the video posted on social media "does not depict the alleged act in progress."
However, the department did ask if anyone else had other videos that could help with the investigation to send it to Officer Bennet at 727-816-1919 and reference case #23-0497.