James Burris' cat
James Burris, Arkansas Democrat Ken Aden's campaign manager, came home to his cat dead and marked with the words "liberal" on his porch Blue Arkansas/James McAvoy

The campaign manager for an Arkansas Democratic candidate came home Sunday to find his murdered cat on his doorstep and the word LIBERAL scrawled out in black marker or paint.

According to Democratic blog Blue Arkansas, Jake Burris and his four children had just pulled up to their Russellville home when one of his children noticed the dead feline lying on the front porch. Local police are now investigating the incident.

This is sickening. To kill a child's pet ... I'm at a loss for words ... I've seen the best and the worst of humanity, but this is something else, Burriss told Jake McAvoy, a law student and activist who runs the blog.

The mix-breed Siamese's head appeared to have been bashed in and an eyeball was hanging out of the socket. A photo, published by Blue Arkansas, shows the black graffiti scrawled onto the fur.

McAvoy said it was the most chilling phone call I've ever gotten.

This is terrorism. There's no other word for it ... Jake said the kids seem to be handling it OK, he wrote. The one that discovered the cat was too young to be able to read and Jake had quickly gotten the others into the house before they saw it.

The incident occurred in highly conservative Pope County, where Democrat Ken Aden is hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Steve Womack for Arkansas' 3rd District. This morning, Aden echoed his campaign manager in a statement.

To kill a child's pet is just unconscionable, Aden said. As a former combat soldier, I've seen the best of humanity and the worst of humanity. Whoever did this is definitely part of the worst of humanity,

The congressional hopeful said he blamed a rogue individual or group not associated with his opponent, Womack. He told Reuters that the majority of the people in this district are hard-working foks, but you get the occasional crazy individual out there.

The Womack campaign also denounced the violence.

The thought of brutalizing any animal for the sake of making a political statement is beyond any standard of decency and the person or people responsible for this act should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law, said Beau Walker, Womack's chief of staff, according to Reuters..