Girl, 17, admits cat killing

NEW YORK, July 16 (UPI) -- A New York teenager snapped at an animal-rights activist after admitting she baked her former roommate's kitten alive in an oven.

Cheyenne Cherry, 17, faces a year behind bars for animal cruelty and burglary, the New York Daily News reported. She pleaded guilty Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court.

Cherry told a judge she and a 14-year-old friend raided her former roommate's apartment May 6, damaging her belongings and removing DVDs and food. She admitted the younger girl put the cat in the oven, turning the heat up to 500 degrees, and she did nothing to rescue it.

"It's dead, (expletive)," Cherry told one of the 20 animal lovers who attended a hearing.

Police investigators said the pair got out of the apartment so they would not have to hear the kitten, named Tiger Lily, mewing in pain and scratching in a vain effort to escape.

Cherry was jailed for probation violation. She is to be sentenced July 31 under a plea agreement that calls for a one-year term.

The judge also ordered her not to have a pet for at least three years.