LOCAL NEWS
How much King County has spent prosecuting a Bellevue cat
Jun 19, 2019, 12:01 PM
Miska has allegedly been terrorizing her Bellevue neighborhood for years. (KIRO 7 photo)
(KIRO 7 photo)
It’s been alleged for years that Miska the cat is the terror of her Bellevue neighborhood. With Miska boasting a rap sheet a mile long, King County has had to pay in both time and money over its many attempts to put her behind bars. That’s had county prosecutors racking up over $27,000 in attorney fees, spread across roughly 176 billable hours.
Miska, the most notorious cat in King County, lawyers up
“It is quite amazing that even trespassing humans don’t get as much prosecution in King County as Miska,” Miska’s attorney, Jon Zimmerman, joked back in April.
The $27,604.93 in legal fees date all the way back to 2015. Four different lawyers have worked the cat cases, including the King County Senior Prosecuting Attorney. In 2019, those fees have accumulated in every month but June.
Miska’s legal troubles date all the way back to 2014, when King County Animal Control signed an order to have her either euthanized or deported from the county.
While that order was vacated by King County Superior Court, animal control later trapped and took Miska to kitty jail. She was released after she made bail; in this case, kenneling fees paid by her owner. In the years since, she’s faced accusations of terrorizing her community by trespassing, taunting, and killing other pets.
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Her owner, though, claims the cat has been unfairly targeted.
“This is pretty wild, because plenty of cats are outside and are allegedly trespassing in Bellevue, but none have been treated, or mistreated, in a way that Miska has,” Zimmerman told The Candy, Mike and Todd Show in April. “Over 50 or so violations have been issued to allegedly trespassing cats. More than 30 have been issued to Miska.”
How is Miska handling all this? Not that’s it’s easy to tell with a cat, but Zimmerman says she’s managing.
“She’s really trying to enjoy the best years of her life,” he said. “She’s running around, she’s enjoying herself, and most of the time she does actually spend indoors, and she likes to sleep, and she likes to be petted, and she likes to be fed.”
