Maple Ridge isn’t the only community dealing with a potential cat killer.
Three cats have been killed in the Brookswood area in May, said SPCA’s Lorie Chortyk. Langley RCMP are also investigating, but the SPCA is the lead agency in the case.
These cats have died under “suspicious circumstances” and most likely at the hands of a human, not an animal, she said.
This isn’t the first time Brookswood has had reports of a cat killer. In March, a cat was dismembered. The SPCA isn’t ruling out that a coyote could have caused a few of these deaths, because the attacks can look similar. But they do fear these felines died at the hands of a disturbed person.
In Maple Ridge, more than 20 cats have been killed in a year, with nine mutilated in the past two weeks. The killer is placing cat heads on people’s porches, one in a plastic bag.
They have also been discovered on school grounds and underneath missing cat posters, Chortyk said. Those acts are unlikely to be the work of a coyote or dog, she said.
All the cats have been killed in the same manner, either cut in half with a saw or sharp knife, it appears.
The remains of a cat were found by students at an elementary school while the leg of a calico cat was found blocks away.
The SPCA has called in a renowned forensic crime scene veterinarian to help in the case. Dr. Melinda Merck will determine if they died by human hands or by an animal attack.
The SPCA asks that all cat owners in Brookswood be careful with their animals.
“If possible, keep your cats inside or if they go outside watch them,” said Chortyk.
“Every cat in Brookswood is a potential target.”
In August 2010, a Brookswood resident found two dismembered cats.
Police didn’t release the nature of how the two cats died, but they thought it was suspicious. Necropsies weren’t performed on those cats but the recent cat corpses have been sent away, said Chortyk.
The SPCA is desperate to stop this person or persons from killing any more animals in Maple Ridge and Langley.
“We want to stop the animal suffering, but also whomever is doing this really needs help.”
She believes the way to crack this case is to get tips from the public.