20 cat deaths leave Fla. communities worried

[coyote]

Source: Associated Press

By SARAH LARIMER, Associated Press Writer Sarah Larimer, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 38 mins ago

MIAMI – The black cat's body was found in the grass, just feet from the hedges where she slept each day.

Miss Kitty was still warm to the touch when the South Florida couple who cared for her found her in the yard next door. Her head was smashed and her back legs skinned, like pieces of chicken in a grocer's freezer. And she was not the only one to suffer such a fate.

Horrified owners have been finding their cats killed and mutilated for the past month in two south Miami-Dade County communities. Many of the cats were missing fur and appeared to have been cut with a sharp, straight instrument, police said. In all, investigators are looking into about two dozen deaths, with enough evidence to try to prosecute at least 15 of the cases.

"Every time I hear about someone else, I'm in their shoes and I see my cat again," said Mary Lou Shad, who fed and cared for Miss Kitty with her husband for the past year. Although the cat was feral, they considered her their pet.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090610/ap_on_re_us/us_cats_mutilated

---

What the hell is wrong with people?

[bdamomma]

1. OMG people are definitely loosing it.

for a cat lover like myself that is horrible.

[WriteDown]

14. If they ever catch this guy, he should be skinned.

I'd volunteer to do it in a heartbeat.

[BreweryYardRat]

43. Agreed. n/t

[chatnoir]

57. Ditto

[Lorien]

25. Hopefully it's just one sicko. And for the animal haters out there; you can

bet that he (and it probably is a "he") will move on to human prey at some point, if he hasn't already. My dad was a psychologist at a state prison for years. Every serial killer started his career on animals. :grr:

[Quantess]

34. So true. This person MUST be caught!

The perpetrator already is, or will become, a danger to society.

[KamaAina]

42. The cat killer is a danger to society right now, by definition

cats are part of society, too. :grr: :banghead: :argh:

Say, anyone seen Bill Frist lately? :P

[Name removed]

2. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[xultar]

3. Why are people still allowing their cats to roam outside alone!!!

[dipsydoodle]

6. When I got my first chinchilla persian

it was conditional on him being a house cat and since then they all have been so - even my bengal/siamese moggie.

[EFerrari]

72. Same here. When I adopted Sweetie, it was on the condition that he be inside.

Now, they're all inside and guess what? I haven't lost ONE of them to traffic or to a predator or to a poisoning accident or to a fight gone bad. My place is small but they are perfectly happy indoors. They have their routine and their hangouts and their games. They sit by the windows when they want to tan and they curl up in the closet when they want to burrow. End of problem.

[gauguin57]

79. Sweetie is a sweetie!

Lovely picture.

[snooper2]

7. My cat Samy gets to go outside every day...

He gets to lay on his sun chair in the back yard...

Not all cats take off for the moon when they go outside :rofl:

[WriteDown]

15. My cat is an outside cat...

She really enjoys the outdoors and doesn't stray away from the yard. I don't think we can hold it against people for letting they're cat outdoors.

[caseymoz]

18. Because they're cats not dogs.

Mostly because cats never evolved as pack animals. They have different needs.

I love cats the way they are and respect their right to the outdoors, even if it might result in injury or death. My cat is my friend, and I'm not exactly the owner. I let her out because they are made to be outside. She needs the freedom, psychologically. I am not going to impose any rules over that because it's the very opposite of what she needs to be happy and mentally healthy. In nature, they usually have a range of miles. It's cruelty to keep them in. If they are kept in, they're in danger of obesity and urinary infections, along with skittishness, neurosis and a lack of the ability to relax and feel any friendship. In such a restricted area, they'll have reduced affection toward humans, and an intolerance to other cats.

That is my opinion. Yes, I'm sorry, they may get hurt or killed. You have to get them shots for feline AIDS and Leukemia, but it's worth it to let them have freedom. I had a cat who was seriously injured in his life from the outdoors, three times. We nursed him back to health each time. He finally died of cancer, but I know he was still happy and grateful for almost his whole life, even considering some pain. He's the only one to have had such trouble. We had a little female, an outside cat, who lived for 23 years without an injury. To me, its survival of the fittest. Cats have to adapt to a human environment. If we coddle cats, we'll lose them. Already they've developed smaller brains just in the last century.

The feral cats have a purpose in this: they refresh the genetic stock and keep us from ruining them in trying to make them like dogs. To me, some feral cats are okay. We can't possibly eliminate all of them humanely anyway. My cat was a rescue. She had at least two litters prior to her rescue. She is so happy to be inside that she seldom goes outside and seldom stays out there for any amount of time, yet, she I think she loves having that freedom. I love her very much.

[Stellabella]

54. Wrong. You ARE the owner and are responsible for that animal.

Many communities now have cat leash laws, because it's better for the animal and the community. Your outdoor cat will live a much shorter, more stress-filled life than an indoor cat.

"Survival of the fittest" is a really stupid reason to put your pets in harm's way. You're not someone I want in my neighborhood. And no, you don't love your cats or you would take responsibility for them.

[girl gone mad]

49. I agree. Cats belong inside.

Outside on a leash only.

People who think it's cruel need to be realistic. A neutered/spayed cats territory is very small anyhow. It's pretty easy to keep them happy indoors with attention and fun toys.

[loudsue]

58. Absolutely wrong. NO animals belong indoors. Especially HUMANS, but all other animals, too

need to be free in nature as much as possible.

If you live in the city with your animals, and letting them roam free outside your door would bring them danger, then you owe it to them to take them to a place where they can run free safely, on a regular basis.

Anything else brings mental/emotional/physical imbalance to the organism, and is a great deal of what is WRONG with modern society. Outdoors = good. Indoors = not good.

[superduperfarleft]

65. Well that was asinine.

"Outdoors = good. Indoors = not good"

What about during a lightning storm?

And I guess all those lucky homeless people don't have to worry about that mental/emotional/physical imbalance, what ever the hell that means.

People who let their domesticated animals outdoors unsupervised are borderline abusers, as far as I'm concerned.

[loudsue]

83. Talk about projection.

Your reply was what was asinine.

[superduperfarleft]

84. I guess that's why you ignored everything in it.

Don't you have some crystals to polish? Or some cats to neglect?

[EFerrari]

71. No kidding. It's nuts.

I see flyers up all the time for lost babies.

If you don't let them out, THEY CAN'T GET LOST, morans.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Santeria?

[juno jones]

9. From what I understand santario/as use chickens that are raised

for sacrifice and the chickens are brought into the room one at a time, they are not exposed to the deaths of the others (which is quick, a throat cut, not unlike kosher butchering).

Some 'satanists' (no offense to peaceful law-abiding satanists of my aquaintance...) have been known to do such things, but the lack of ritual trappings-ie discovery of the cats in circles or with accompanying paraphrenalia-makes that doubtful as well.

My money is on a fucked up human who is doing this for some kind of satisfaction on their way to becoming the next Ed Gein. I hope they catch the little shit now, because it sounds like he is on his way to bigger and better things. Probably politics.

[The Backlash Cometh]

32. Oh. So true. If anyone knows that there's more than one way to skin a cat...

it would be a politician.

[caseymoz]

19. It might be an off-shoot of it.

I think that's unlikely though. I think it's likely to be either somebody who has had a psychotic break, or somebody who wants to stop people from keeping their cats outdoors, or both.

[The Backlash Cometh]

33. When I was young, I do remember the adolescent boys going through

a "Boys of Paul Street" stage. They shoved a firecracker inside the mouth of a frog once, then ran. To my knowledge, it was just that once. It was a Catholic community.

[Withywindle]

53. No.

There is animal sacrifice in Santeria, but it's meant to be humane. Comparable to kosher or halal rules for animal slaughter.

[dipsydoodle]

5. There sure are

some sick fucks out there. We had a problem here in the UK a few back, in the adjacent county, of horses being mutilated which is equally as bad.

[bertman]

8. Culling the feral cat population is not such a bad idea, but doing it in such an inhumane

way is a very bad thing.

I just spent a weekend on a North Carolina barrier island that now has lost its natural population of ground-nesting birds due to the ever-expanding population of feral cats.

I love my two cats, who are both outdoor/indoor kitties and who have been spayed and neutered. Responsible pet ownership is very important, given the impact feral cats (and dogs) have on native wildlife.

These killings sound like the work of a sadistic butthole.

[caseymoz]

21. But they do control the rodent population very effectively. nt

[CountAllVotes]

24. they sure do

a house without a cat is a house with rats and mice.

:kick:

[caseymoz]

29. And rodents reproduce far faster than birds. nt

[bertman]

36. I'm sure you're right, but the birds were doing just fine before the feral cat population

exploded.

[caseymoz]

48. Yes, that is the bad thing about them. I have to admit I'm torn over it.

I'm hoping that it's not really as harmful as it seems, that the birds can figure out that an area has a lot of cats and simply go somewhere else. But I have to admit, that's a really hopeful estimate.

[keepCAblue]

28. Culling does not work to control feral populations...;

...most educated and enlightened workers in animal care and control advocate TNR over culling.

[bertman]

35. My bad. Wrong terminology. I should have said "Exterminating all the feral fuckers . . ."

:hi:

[keepCAblue]

40. Yeah, that's pretty much what I'd expect from you.

[bertman]

68. Yay!! My attempt at smart-ass succeeded.

But seriously, if culling doesn't work, and spay and neuter doesn't work, then caticide seems to be the only other option. Am I missing something here?

[Doremus]

37. Spayed/Neutered non-feral cats also kill birds.

Sorry, responsible cat ownership is no different than responsible dog ownership.

No free roaming.

[bertman]

66. Sorry, I don't buy into that at all. Domestic pet cats do kill some birds and small critters

but, at least around my house, the birds, squirrels, bunnies, mice, voles, etc. are thriving despite our two kitties, at least one fox and her kits, numerous barred owls, one great horned owl, a pair of red-tail hawks, and a bobcat that we haven't seen yet but that we have heard on several occasions.

In early spring we put a pet-stop bib on our cats so they are impeded just enough that they now very rarely bring us any birds. The voles don't fare quite so well.

[YOY]

10. Paging Dr. Frist...

n.t.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

46. I'm ashamed of DU...

I took ten posts before somebody made a Bill Frist joke.

We're slipping around here...

[YOY]

63. In DU's defense Frist has been out of the media limelight as of late.

n.t.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

70. There's no excuse for a lack of snark (nt)

[mrs_p]

11. something like this was happening

where i lived a few years back. turned out to be some seriously fucked up kids. poor kitties.

[caseymoz]

20. In childhood, that's a warning sign of their growing up to be serial killers.

The others are bed-wetting, mostly after the age of 12, and fire-starting.

[Caoimhe]

23. Yep

I had a cousin who tortured cats. He would take kittens and hang them on the clothesline by their ears or their tails. His parents would gently scold him and never ever punish him. As kids, we all feared him, even though he was younger. He would throw knives at his sisters, cut apart their Barbie dolls and lay out in the road next to his bicycle pretending he'd been hit, then when someone would stop their car to help him, he'd jump up and laugh. Amazing the stories I could tell. Well, no surprise he turned into a meth head and amateur porn maker and I know this sounds callous, did the world a favor by having his own "necktie party" when it was certain he was headed back to prison on a drug charge. Unfortunately, his dad, my uncle found him hanging from the tree. The really sad thing is he fathered at least 8 children by at least 4 women and cared for none of them. In fact, I don't even want to think about what he most likely did to his children...

Animal torture is NOT normal. Just like when George W. Bush made jokes about as a kid-- stuffing firecrackers into live frogs and blowing them up... that's not "boys will be boys" that's sadistic, psychopathic behavior.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

12. Coming soon: A new serial killer.

This has bad news written all over it.

[Hansel]

74. Or spree killer.

We had similar cat mutilations going in Springfield, OR in the weeks and days proceeding Kip Kingle walking into his High School and shooting 27 people and killing 2 not including his parents who were found dead at their home. The cat mutilations stopped immediately.

The police and humane officers need to work vigilantly until they find who is responsible.

[udbcrzy2]

13. Spay Neuter & Release

We had ferrel (sp) cats here, a big problem. The only way we could control it was to just adopt
3 cats and we got them fixed. They live outside and won't let any other cats in the yard.
I don't even see any dogs come here. They rule here.

I have a couple of cats who live indoors, but they love to go outside. I would hate to see
that happen to ANY of them. So sad...

[caseymoz]

16. Most serial killers mutilate animals in their childhood or early adolescence.

That's for one thing. It could be that some adult sicko wants owners to keep their cats indoors. It could be some kind of sick, improvised magic ritual, or it could be somebody who is clinically psychotic. Or, it could be somebody who is just that cruel anyway. I hope there are no copycat crimes elsewhere, but it's almost inevitable (no pun intended).

I let my cat out because cats are made to be outside. I am not going to impose any rules over that. In nature, they usually have a range of miles. If they are kept in, they're in danger of obesity and urinary infections, along with skittishness and neurosis. If somebody starts killing cats in my area, I would stand out with pellet gun while my cat's out.

If I ever catch a cat killer in the act, I'd be in danger of attacking them immediately. I know that breaks the law, but my emotions on that are strong.

[Greybnk48]

22. one example, Jeffrey Dahmer got his start this way.

[caseymoz]

60. There are so many examples among serial killers. nt

[Lorien]

26. As someone who has done pet rescue for years and owns four indoor only

cats, I can tell you that no rescue group adopts out to anyone who allows their cat to roam outdoors anymore. Obsity comes from commercial pet food, which is increasingly filled with grains and corn products (unnatural to a cat's diet). See this thread:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388 UTIs are caused by dehydration. In fact, the only cat I ever "owned" that had UTIs was an outdoor only semi-feral. My indoor cats are extremely friendly, happy and active. The reasons to keep cats indoors these days are many; rampant disease, especially FIP and FLV, traffic, dogs (which have killed many cats in my area), lawn poisons, and the occasional nut job. I have one cat that likes the outdoors so I walk her on a leash. Years ago the outdoors was friendlier to pets, but that's just not the case anymore.

My "skittish, neurotic" and "obese" cats:

[caseymoz]

31. There are always some who can adapt to the indoors pretty well

But I ask you to have some empathy: how would you like a lifetime of house arrest even if you were treated well? You think it's possible you can adjust to it? It is certainly possible.

They certainly adapt better if you know how to treat them. There is a difference between indoor and outdoor cats, I know. It's something that I can't quite put my finger on.

I must explain: one reason that I let them roam is that they are fast, clever and agile, besides being very difficult to spot in your PJs on a cold night, and they are too fast even if you can see them. I'm not young and quick; I'm not an NHL goalie either. Imagine trying to make a save while you're carrying in groceries and have to go to the bathroom badly. If they are determined to go out, and many are, there's little some people can do to prevent it. Other people must find this true as well, and have to reach some compromise with the cat. Also, I tried to walk my previous cat on a leash; it really didn't work out. I've seen if they are well-treated, they usually don't go that far.

Rescues might not adopt out to those who let their cats roam-- but there are less formal ways to get them. Even Rescues will get desperate. If the cat was ready to be destroyed unless it is adopted, would every rescue really refuse somebody who would let the cat roam? I mean, when the cat was feral yesterday, at least 15 percent outside isn't 100 percent outside. There are too many feral cats needing homes to insist on those rules. My cat was in a cage at a veterinarian's office for six months. They loved her, and thought she was the sweetest creature, but they couldn't find anybody to adopt her. Her problem: she freaked out around other cats. Also, of course, she was an adult. I didn't have another cat, for once, so I took her in. They were so happy that they waved the price. The woman rescued her was overjoyed. The cat lived completely out of doors for a year, BTW, without any injuries, and she had a litter of kittens and was pregnant with another. They were right. She is a sweet-souled little creature, and it's hard to imagine her being so genial to people when she started out feral.

Now, I wouldn't let a cat out if they didn't have their claws, and most rescues de-claw them, making that a necessity.

What I found with the rescue cat I have she is very careful and methodical. She sniffs the air frequently. I had never seen a another domesticated cat using its sense of smell like this. It is probably a big reason why cat's get mauled by dogs, poisoned by lawn chemicals. They don't use their nose and they lack caution. They are probably too welcoming to every person and naively brave. My sister had a cat who, as a young cat, would jump up on the hood of your car as you drove away. Then he got run over, I mean with the wheel across his chest and abdomen, and incredibly, he survived without heavy injuries. He didn't jump on hoods after that.

About obesity being caused by commercial cat food: no doubt it's the principle cause, but the outdoor cats I've seen look much slimmer than the indoor cats by a lot on average. An obese outdoor cat would really stand out. This suggests that there are ways to counter obesity, just like with humans.

[Berry Cool]

51. I would ask YOU to stop anthropomorphizing to the point where you assume

a cat needs what you as a human being would need in order to be happy.

I prefer not to leave my cats up to the mercy of the outside world. They're not my children. They're cats. They're only so smart, they have a lot of natural enemies, and a lot of assholes out there just hate cats. Also, I don't want them to inadvertently make misery with their behavior for someone else.

I also have a garbage-lover, and if I let her out to rummage through other people's garbage, God knows what she'd eat.

Oh, and it is not true that most rescue organizations declaw cats. In fact, when I adopted my older one from a rescue, she was already spayed (at 5 months), but I had to sign a paper that I would NEVER have her declawed throughout her lifetime.

As for indoor cats being obese, it depends on the cat. One of mine is large and heavy; that's her breed. The older one is a shorthair and she's so thin you can almost see her ribcage. I have joked about her being "the anorexic cat" because she can eat three pieces of food at a meal and walk away.

[caseymoz]

59. So, you don't declaw that one cat to respect the rescuer

who had an opinion that cats shouldn't be de-clawed? You respected her views about de-clawing, right?

I don't anthropomorphize them as you think. But I could take a cat that is skittish and that hides under beds and make it sociable with a family. It's a fact that they're cats and not children, but we agree on little else.

I would keep the garbage lover in too, though, and maybe take it out chaperoned now and then.

[EFerrari]

73. That's just silly. They ALL can adapt to being indoors much better than to being dead. n/t

[caseymoz]

76. Not the point. I don't want cat's to degrade from over-domestication.

I know that sounds strange, but I love cats the way they are: independent and resourceful, and capable of living without people if necessary. That isn't a cat you see kept indoors.

[EFerrari]

77. It's not a cat, either, if you have to scrape it off the street. n/t

[caseymoz]

78. It occurs to me that you might have a different picture of the danger than I do.

I have always lived in areas of light traffic, few predators and where dogs are controlled. Now, if I lived next to a busy street, or even one with moderate traffic, I wouldn't let my cats out. Hell, busy streets are a dangerous to people.

[EFerrari]

82. But that's why they're called "accidents". My mom lives on a ranch

where there are only predators at night. Her cat was run over by a workman during the day.

Maybe your cat will be lucky. I can't leave my cats well being up to luck.

[Berry Cool]

50. I love the pic of them sprawled in bliss on the bed!

I have two and you'll never find them outdoors. It was only the one I USED to let roam outdoors who almost died at age 2 from feline urological syndrome. From then on, he lived an indoor life.

His brother died as a kitten of only a few months old, from eating poison pest bait left out by some neighborhood gardener.

There are just too many ways for an outdoor cat to buy it.

[Withywindle]

55. I am always so happy to see pix of your beautiful cats.

Especially your regal Maine Coon. :)

My girl does NOT go outside. She's adopted from a shelter, and yes, she used to be an outdoor cat. She clearly knows how to hunt, you can tell that from the way she plays. She'd already borne a litter at 2 years old when I got her.

She knows she has the GOOD LIFE now. She loves to sit on her window seat and sniff the air and watch the birds, but she's never made any attempt to get of my apartment.

My ex (still a good friend) has a big handsome boy cat I love, and we almost lost him once. G used to let him out, until once he didn't come back for three days. G was frantic and upset, and we put flyers all over the neighborhood. Finally I got a FEELING and told G to check this certain shelter NOW. The cat was there, and started crying out as soon as he heard G's voice. He'd been hit by a car, and the vet at this "shelter" thought his spine was broken and they were just about to put him down. G demanded a second opinion and took him to another vet. Turns out he didn't even have any broken bones - a sprain at most. In two weeks, he was totally fine - except the sound of traffic freaks him out to this day.

The whole six years I spent living with them and snuggling with this awesome cat every night (big 20-lb beast who would always push my book out of the way so he could sit on my chest and nip my nose), I keep thinking about how he was almost just gone. We might never have known what happened to him. G doesn't let him outside anymore, and because of his traffic fear, he doesn't want to go out there anyway.

[Merlot]

67. I walk my cat every morning!

We don't call it a leash however, it's just the "string" that keeps us together.

Walking a cat is a fine art, and not for the faint of heart.

My cats are all happy, active, and very friendly and affectionate. The one I walk was originally an outdoor cat, but like someone up thread said, it's not as cat friendly outside as it used to be. He came home once with a mystery injury (sadly, a couple other neighborhood cats were also injured possibly by an unbalanced man), and didn't want to go outside for months after that. That's when we started walking together.

Agree with you that the commercial diets are full of corn and grains which aren't natural to a cats diet. Mine get either raw (yum!) or a high protein wet food which has no grains (called Instinct if anyone is interested, made by Prairie). It's not living indoors that causes UTI's, it dry food.

Love the pic of cats sprawled out on the bed...looks like my house!

[gauguin57]

80. OK, that's some SERIOUS cute right there.

Thanks for sharing those lovely kitty pix.

[MicaelS]

81. Beautiful photographs!

The biggest cat is BIG and beautiful. What kind is he / she?

[girl gone mad]

52. Domestic cats don't have a range of miles.

It's actually very tiny except in the case of a severe food shortage. Only rural non-neutered toms consistently roam more than a mile.

http://www.knowyourcat.info/info/teritory.htm

Home range size varies with the habitat and the availability of the food but there are some defining features.

1. Male cats have a home range about 10 times larger then that of a female cat.
2. Female cat's ranges clump together, normally around a building or other place of shelter and often overlap.
3. A male may include the ranges of a number of queens in 'his' range. The male normally moves on the outer parts of his home range.
4. The greater the size of available food the smaller the home ranges.

[kestrel91316]

17. Serial killers usually start by torturing and killing animals.

Looks like we've got another one "in training".

[rocktivity]

27. DING DING DING! Kestrel, you're our grand prize winner!

Looks like we've got another...serial killer..."in training".

This is EXACTLY how Jeffery Dahmer got started--as a teen. And when Ted Bundy was a 15, a 9-year old girl on his paper route went missing, and is to this day.

A TV show said that 96% of serial killer either tortured animals, set fires, or bedwet excessively through adolescence.

:(
rocktivity

[LeftHander]

30. Bill Frist move to Fla? nt

[madeline_con]

38. This is a child, who is a serial killer in the making.

They need only ask the local kids: who do you refuse to hang out with? The kids always know.

[Hansel]

75. No doubt. nt

[Blandocyte]

39. Pa-freakin'-thetic

There's some sick twisted bastids out there.

[Pavulon]

41. Killing pets..Subject is armed, handle with extreme prejudice..

really I have contempt for people who do this and would not feel to bad if this guy gets popped by police or homeowner.

[sendero]

44. This is well known..

.. gang activity. We lost one of our cats in a similar, although somewhat more gruesome, fashion.

It is part of an initiation.

[Pavulon]

47. Bizzare, bunch of cowards..

go kill a house cat to be in the gang..

[sendero]

62. It is merely...

... a way to inoculate oneself against the natural revulsion normal people have against gory violence.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

69. My sympathies

I'm very sorry for your family's loss.

It's difficult enough to lost a furry family member, let alone under such horrific circumstances. :grouphug:

[riverdeep]

45. Yep, a sign of even worse things to come.

They start off on animals, it's the thrill of having power over something and causing agony. Truly twisted. Then they graduate to humans, count on it.

[47of74]

56. That's sick

And the person or persons who did that thing need to go to jail for a very, very, very long time.

[PfcHammer]

61. The fucking sick bastard killing those cats needs to watch his

back. I hope he is caught and gets the shit beaten out of him.:puke:

[Arugula Latte]

64. Me too. I'd like to scratch his eyes out, cat style. nt