St. Pete police issue warning after cats mutilated

Image 1 of 2

Police in St. Pete are warning residents after two cats were found mutilated in the city over the last few weeks.

The first case happened back on September 29, when the mutilated carcass of a cat  was discovered in a front yard in the 4100 block of 17th Street N. The cat -- a neighbor's pet -- had been cleanly cut in half, police said.

"My neighbor said it looked like it was sawed in half - that's how clean a cut it was," Carole Hart told FOX 13 News, describing the neighborhood cat she called Oreo and fed on her front porch.

Then Thursday, in Shore Acres, a neighbor called John Karrer with another grisly discovery:  Parts of Karrer's 19-year old cat named Princess, who he thinks was snatched and killed elsewhere. 

"[They] killed her and then came back with some of her.  Left me three parts - two legs and a head," Karrer said. "This was no random machete shots, somebody fileted her.  I mean they took the parts clean."

St. Petersburg police spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez said the second case prompted an investigation. 

"No,  they're not the same neighborhoods but the two cases are similar in that somebody on purpose, specifically with some type of straight edge, mutilated these animals," Fernandez said. 

The police are asking for information from the public, and advising pet owners to keep animals inside at night.  Karrer agrees. 

"At this point if you live in this neighborhood, probably good to keep your pets inside no matter how much they disapprove," he told FOX 13 News.

Hart said Oreo was one of 10 to 20 neighborhood cats, all of which disappeared at about the same time Oreo was killed. 

"There's somebody very sick around here.  Oh my God.  Scares me," she said. 

Karrer shares her opinion of the unidentified offender.  "This is not garden variety sick little boys, this is psychopathic," he said. "You're talking about somebody that's sick, seriously sick and he's out there and he's plotting the next one."

Anyone with information on these cases is asked to call the department's non-emergency number, 727-893-7780.