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Several cats have been found dead, cut in half, in Houston’s East End neighborhood.
The Houston Police Department needs your help finding out if someone is killing cats or if this is the result of an animal attack.
Police say there have been at least three cases in recent days of dead cats showing up mutilated in the area.
Animal Cruelty detectives think at least two cats have been found dead, with the possibility of a third.
The first case was reported on August 26th, the second just this past Sunday and the third case was called in by neighbors on Wednesday.
In each of the instances, cats were found dead, cut in half and their remains spread out for the public to see.
“My mom was out walking her dog, and she passed by, saw that black cat was severed in half,” said Jackson Hime. “It doesn’t look natural to me.”
One of the most recent cases happened at the corner of South Lockwood Drive and Park Drive.
Neighbors tell KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding that all of the dead cats have been found within a block of this area.
According to Hime, the second cat killed was a calico named Stella.
“It’s disgusting. It’s frightening,” Hime said. “For this to happen three times in two weeks when we haven’t seen anything like this in 30 years, I find it hard to believe that that’s just a random animal attack.”
Neighbors along Park Drive have filed at least three separate reports with Houston Police.
Animal Cruelty detectives are investigating, saying there’s just not enough evidence to know for certain if this was done by an animal or by a person.
KPRC 2′s Gage Goulding was in the area when BARC staff showed up to collect the cat’s remains a full day after neighbors made the 911 call. They are going to perform a necropsy on the remains.
“We talked to the officers yesterday and as you can see, the body is still out here being eaten by flies,” Hime said.
A representative from BARC also told Goulding that from the evidence, it appears the mutilation was done by a human.
Later Thursday, a BARC spokesperson shared the following information with KPRC: “We don’t have any evidence right now that points to this being human-caused and currently are aligned with the SPCA in suspecting wildlife as the cause, specifically coyotes.”
Meanwhile, the Houston SCPA thinks this could be an animal attack:
“Earlier this week, a Houston SPCA Animal Cruelty Investigator responded to the East End after a cruelty report was filed with the animal rescue organization that two deceased cats were dismembered. After an initial investigation, it is believed this was caused by an animal attack, possibly coyotes, as the area where the incident occurred has a very high population of feral cats.
Houston SPCA was made aware of a third similar incident. Based on the current facts gathered, it is believed that this too was caused by an animal attack. The case will remain open pending further investigation, if warranted.
The Houston SPCA encourages the community to file a report for suspected animal cruelty at 713.869.7722 or HoustonSPCA.org.”
Police are also asking for help because there is no security camera footage or witnesses who saw what happened. Anyone with any information on what or who is doing this should contact the Houston Police Department.