Woman Accused Of Cooking Roommate's Ferret Alive In The Oven

A woman in Manchester, New Hampshire, is facing an animal cruelty charge after she allegedly killed her roommate’s pet ferret by cooking the small animal the oven.

Ivana Clifford, 26, was arrested early Wednesday morning after officers responded to a report of smoke in an apartment building.

“The smoke detector woke us up,” her roommate, Cara Murray, told CBS Boston.

The smoke was coming from the apartment’s oven. When her boyfriend, James Klimavich, opened the appliance, he found a dead ferret inside, she said.

The ferret was Angel, one of three belonging to Murray.

Angel was “very friendly, she was so cute, she was very energetic, she would run around with the other ferrets,” Murray told CBS Boston.

“How can someone be so cruel to put an animal in your oven? Cooking it alive?” Murray said in an interview with WHDH.

Firefighters confirmed to the station they found a ferret covered in burn marks in the apartment.

“We love our animals so much. It was just devastating,” Murray said.

Murray and Klimavich fingered Clifford as the suspect, and told police she was staying with them because she was 8 months pregnant, according to New England Cable News.

Clifford was charged with one count of animal cruelty. She pleaded not guilty during her arraignment on Wednesday.

Clifford allegedly told police she killed the pet because Murray had stolen her clothes, but Murray believes did it because Angel bit Clifford a few hours earlier.

“Just nipped her, didn’t even draw blood, and that’s why she killed our ferret,” Murray told New England Cable News.

Judge Gillian Abramson said the allegations against Clifford ″display a profound sense of sadism” and set bail at $10,000, according to WMUR TV.

Murray is worried about Clifford’s ability to mother a child once she gives birth.

“If she can throw a live ferret in the oven, what makes you think she won’t throw a baby in the oven if it cries?” Murray told NH1 News.