A 41-year-old woman was arrested on Independence Day after witnesses told police she threw kittens into Center Pond in Phippsburg.
Justine Lovig of Phippsburg was charged with operating under the influence, cruelty to animals and violation of probation, Phippsburg police Chief John Skroski said.
Phippsburg police officer Zech Thomas arrived just after 1 p.m. July 4 at the bridge on Parker Head Road, where a number of people reported an intoxicated woman was repeatedly throwing two gray Bengal kittens into the pond.
When Thomas arrived, Lovig was just emerging from the pond with two kittens that appeared to be soaked, Skroski said. Thomas allegedly spotted animal leashes on the cement steps into the water, and witnesses said Lovig had dragged the 1- to 2-month-old kittens by the leashes.
Lovig then allegedly wrapped the kittens in a T-shirt in her car and started to feed them an egg salad sandwich, Skroski said. Thomas reported that the shaking kittens looked “as if they hadn’t eaten in a very long time.”
She failed a field sobriety test administered by officer Clint Thompson of the Maine Marine Patrol and again failed a test at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset.
The kittens were taken by Phippsburg Animal Control Officer Norm Turner to Coastal Humane Society in Brunswick.
Lovig is scheduled to appear in West Bath District Court Sept. 11.
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