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Man sues over loss of frozen cat bodies



A Murfreesboro man charged with animal cruelty after more than 100 frozen bodies of cats were found in freezers in his home is suing authorities who seized them.

The lawsuit was filed exactly three years after authorities confiscated 114 frozen bodies of cats and kittens from William Terry Davis' home in an upscale golf course community in Murfreesboro.


The animals' bodies were stored in grocery bags, paper towels and boxes, stacked up inside several freezers. Live animals — five snakes and one dog, a white German shepherd named Snowy — were also taken from the home.

Some pets euthanized

A few days later, authorities took more animals from Davis' second home in Christiana. During that raid, the suit says, animal control officers confiscated 39 cats at the Christiana home. Because of poor health, 31 were later euthanized.

In his lawsuit, filed last week, Davis, 74, says he suffered "emotional pain and suffering" because of the confiscation and eventual destruction of the frozen bodies, which he said he was planning to bury in a pet cemetery he was preparing on his farm, as well as the loss of his living pets.

The suit says that one of the kittens in the freezer was "so large at birth that (Davis) intended to submit it to the Guinness Book of Records."

He is seeking more than $1.5 million in damages.

Davis initially faced 48 charges of animal cruelty. During his trial, the judge threw out many of the cruelty counts, finding that police had illegally searched the Christiana property. Ultimately, Davis pleaded guilty to one count and was sentenced to 11 months and 29 days of probation.