West Jordan man arrested, accused of punching kitten that was later euthanized

WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan man has been arrested and accused of punching a kitten multiple times, causing severe injuries that required the animal to be euthanized.

Edgar Eduardo Soto, 25, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Thursday for investigation of torture of a companion animal. On Oct. 6, Soto was alone with a woman’s long-haired kitten named “Marge,” when he called the woman to say “something had happened,” according to a police booking affidavit.

“(Soto) said that he had given Marge a bath, slipped and fell, injuring the kitten,” the affidavit states. Soto took the kitten to a veterinarian, but “very little treatment was provided because of funding.”

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The next day, an animal control officer was called and found Marge “to be in an extreme amount of pain and was suffering. The kitten was humanely euthanized due to the extent of the injuries because of a grim prognosis at the advisement of a veterinarian,” the arrest report states.

A necropsy “found grossly severe hemorrhage of the brain” and other injuries, according to investigators.

Soto was interviewed by police on Thursday and admitted to “placing a blanket over the companion animal, Marge, and striking her three to four times with his fist,” the affidavit alleges.