Zombie Cat controversy: Tampa Bay humane society thinks owner knew Bart was breathing when buried

Bart the Zombie Cat made headlines last week after he escaped his own grave and showed up at his owner’s yard five days later. It was all a cute story that appeared to have a happy ending. But, like most things in Florida, there has to be a twist and this one has a doozy.

As previously reported, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay said that Bart was hit by a car and his owner, Ellis Wayne Hutson, assumed he was dead. So, Huston and his neighbors buried the cat. Five days later, Bart showed up with severe injuries and required surgery. Apparently, Bart had survived.

On Sunday, Humane Society spokesman Sherry Silk told WSVN that they were not going to give Bart back to Hutson because they have started to believe that Ellis knew Bart was still breathing when he was buried.

They cited a video posted on YouTube by a neighbor. In it, Hutson’s girlfriend, Candice McLendon, is heard saying that Bart might not be dead.

“I think they knew he was breathing,” Silk told The Huffington Post today. Silk still believes that Bart was buried.

Hutson denied the claims to The Huffington Post. McLendon also told WSVN that her comments on the video weren’t serious. Hutson said that Bart is being “held hostage.”

Silk said that they are really concerned about the timeline, more than the possibility that Hutson knew that Bart was still alive. She told the Huffington Post that Hutson keeps changing the number of days between Bart returning from the grave and when he finally took Bart to the Humane Society.

That’s another claim that Huston calls bogus. He thinks “It’s all about money,” since Bart has gotten the Humane Society extra attention.

In another odd twist, WFTS reports that the Humane Society claims it received a call this past weekend from someone who said they would “storm” the hospital where bart is currently recovering to take him.

screenshot via YouTube clip from Humane Society Tampa Bay