Warren Jeffs' cult accused of sending kitten BURIED ALIVE in concrete to threaten man who deserted polygamous sect

A man who found a kitten encased in concrete at his home fears it was sent as a threat from a polygamist Mormon sect.



The tiny cat was discovered alive but audibly in pain, inside a tube in the back yard of Isaac Wyler, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.



Andrew Chatwin, who has also abandoned the FLDS, claimed it was intended as a warning to Mr Wyler to stop speaking out against the church.



The FLDS achieved notoriety when its leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison last year for sexually assaulting two underage girls he had 'married'.

Heartbreaking: This cat was discovered encased in concrete in a back yard in Colorado City, Arizona

Chiselled out: Rescuers took a hammer to the concrete in a desperate attempt to save the terrified kitten

Mr Chatwin, who left the church in 1999 and has since criticised its polygamist beliefs, told Right This Minute that FLDS members frequently left dead animals on Mr Wyler's property.



In the latest case, six weeks ago, a cat was found buried up to its neck in concrete in a metal tube being used to construct a shade for horses in Mr Wyler's yard in Colorado City, Arizona.

It was mewling incessantly and appeared to be struggling to escape in a video filmed by Mr Chatwin and a friend and later posted to YouTube.



They took down the pipe and cut off the metal, leaving just a lump of concrete with the kitten's head sticking out.



They then took a hammer to the concrete and hacked it off, but had to leave lumps still sticking to the fur of the terrified animal.



Distress: The cat could not stop mewing as it was trapped inside a metal pipe

Threat: The animal was said to have been placed in concrete by members of a breakaway Mormon cult

Mr Chatwin handed the cat over to a local rescue charity, but sadly it died a few days later.



When he reported the apparent abuse to a Colorado City sheriff who is allegedly a member of the FLDS, he received little help.



'He kind of chuckled and laughed a little bit and then he said that if it was up to him, he'd just throw dirt on it,' Mr Chatwin told Right This Minute.



Rescued: But the unfortunate cat died at a local animal shelter just a few days after its harrowing ordeal

Sect: Warren Jeffs, left, is the controversial leader of the FLDS church abandoned by Andrew Chatwin, right



Last month the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against authorities in Colorado City and another FLDS-dominated town over allegations they discriminated against non-members of the church.



The lawsuit states: 'The cities' governments, including the Marshal's Office, have been deployed to carry out the will and dictates of FLDS leaders, particularly Warren Jeffs and the officials to whom he delegates authority.'

