A man was arrested for alleged animal abuse or cruelty against cats after he was found transporting a cooler containing dismembered remains, which he placed on a public street in a neighborhood in the municipality of Ensenada, Baja California.
Authorities from the Baja California State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) reported on Saturday, May 23, the charges against Svarog “N,” who was placed in pretrial detention.
According to the investigation, led by the Ensenada Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Mass Case Processing Investigation Unit, Svarog was formally charged after he left a residence in the Colinas del Sauzal subdivision around 5:24 a.m. on May 10 and went to his vehicle.
“Subsequently, he opened the passenger-side door and removed a cooler containing a black mixed-breed cat, gutted and missing its right paw, as well as a second gray cat with dismembered limbs,” according to the official report.
Afterward, the accused walked to a house and left the cooler, lid on, on a sidewalk in plain sight of residents, causing panic and alarm among the neighbors when it was discovered.
The Attorney General’s Office (FGE) indicated that, after the necessary procedures, they executed the arrest warrant for the aforementioned crime; the Judge of Control imposed justified preventive detention as a precautionary measure and granted a three-month period for the supplementary investigation.
There was a recent history of animal abuse; Possible Aggressor Pointed to
Since May 13, concerns had been growing in the port of Ensenada regarding attacks on cats, after one was found dead and impaled on a wooden post in the Costa Bella neighborhood.
This incident prompted a police mobilization and outrage among residents and animal rights groups in the city; however, no suspect was located, and to date, authorities have not linked the detained man to this crime.
Another similar case was also reported around that time in the Playas de Chapultepec neighborhood, where no arrests were made either.
Regarding the man detained by the State Attorney General’s Office (FGE), it was revealed on social media that he is Svarog Méndez Kotkoff, who apparently studied a health-related field at a private university in the port. Proceso contacted the university’s communications department to confirm this connection, but received no response to the request for information.
Due to the public outcry surrounding the case and the accusations leveled against Svarog’s companies and family members, a person identified as Ana Luisa Kotkoff posted a statement to clarify the situation.
“I am just as shocked, distressed, disgusted, and hurt by the news I had to go to sleep with last night. Yes, Svarog committed acts of abuse and cruelty that we, as a family, still haven’t come to terms with. We are just as scared, outraged, and angry. Like all of you, we also demand justice!” she expressed in her message.
She mentioned that the authorities are investigating and that, in her case, they have had to endure insults such as “disgusting family of murderous psychopaths,” in addition to having private photographs posted on social media.
“Attacking family businesses that have grown up surrounded by honesty, hard work, family, and love. Since my grandparents, we have the example of being family men, honest, hardworking; we have never had the need to hide or hang our heads in shame, not even to this day. It can happen to anyone, you know?” she added.
Ana Luisa reiterated her position that Svarog “does not represent us as a family” and reiterated her request that the hate messages stop.
Source: proceso
