Senseless cruelty: how can little kids do this?

This has been eating at me since this afternoon. On my way home from the train station, I often stop to pet an extremely lovable, cuddly black cat, Midnight, that is one of the friendliest felines I've ever encountered. I hadn't seen her in about a week, and was surprised that she didn't come running over to me when I stopped and called her today. I went over to her, and was shocked to see that her tail was gone. Really gone - about an inch is left, and that is all bandaged up. While I was commiserating with her, her owner came outside, and I asked what had happened, figuring she'd been hit by a car or something like that. The woman told me that she was home last Monday afternoon, and heard her cat scream. She looked out, and saw three little boys, about 9 or 10, manhandling the cat. Two were holding the cat under a jacket, while a third was messing with her tail. She went running out, the kids took off, and she found that the cat's tail had been almost completely cut off!!!!! She took the cat to the vet, who thought they'd used a razor blade, scalpel or carpet cutter, and then went to the police, taking the jacket with her. Unfortunately, there's no identification in or on the jacket, and she didn't get a really good look at the kids. The cops told her that even if they found the kids, they couldn't be prosecuted for anything, because they're probably under 14. Midnight hangs around outside her house in the afternoon, and makes up with anybody who has a kind word for her. I've often seen her playing with kids.What do we have - three future serial killers in our one horse town?

Even if they find the kids, they won't be prosecuted. A couple of years ago, a 13-year-old in northern Germany knifed a neighbor's daughter. She died, and he got off scot-free, because he was under 14.
I was still upset about this this morning. While eating breakfast, I read our local paper, and came across this headline:"Woman runs over cat twice - once by accident, once deliberately"! It seems that last week a cat was hit by a car in a nearby town. Witnesses saw the driver stop, but she didn't get out of the car. Instead, she put the car in reverse and ran over the cat again. Then she drove off. Nobody got her license plate number. The cat, a 9-month-old calico, is still alive, but has a smashed paw and severe internal injuries, so she might not make it. I was speechless. We have somebody shooting cats for fun in the next town over, kiddy animal abusers in this backwater, and now this? Is there something wrong with this area, or is it just that there are cat lovers working for the local paper who make sure the public is informed?

That's a good idea about the jacket. I asked why the woman was letting the cat out after what she had been through, and she said Midnight was inside for several days and climbing the walls. The cat really does stick close to home, and I guess her owners will be checking on her very closely.