Visible crew/equipment: As Melanie is walking across the battlefield looking for her father she steps across 'dead bodies'. You can see tucked into the top of her left boot the battery pack for her microphone and the wires going up her skirt. (01:08:15)
Visible crew/equipment: When Melanie pulls up to the Festival (right after the scene with the "reporter" from the Post at the Carmichael Plantation) you can see a cameraman on the right rear side of the car before he kneels down out of view and the audio microphone/boom in the shot being lifted away from the left side, up, and out.
Answer: It was only humane from Melanie's skewed, immature-at-the-time perspective, believing the cat would be killed instantly. It is still roaming town because it somehow survived the attempt to blow it up and it either never had cancer or has gone into remission.
raywest ★