By Miriam Raftery
Photo: “Bootsie,” found dead and mutilated in Lemon Grove, one of several similar cat deaths in recent weeks in East County communities.
September 3, 2017 (San Diego’s East County) – Residents in Spring Valley, Lemon Grove and Mt. Helix are voicing concerns after several cats were found cut in half, dismembered or eviscerated in recent weeks. It is not yet known whether the gruesome finds were the result of human acts or animal predators.
Deborah Storton says she found the front half of a Siamese cat on her driveway on Greenview Place off Kenwood, in the Kenwood Hill neighborhood of Spring Valley. She informed East County Magazine that the cut was “clean, surgical precision” with “no blood” and organs removed. She does not believe the death was caused by a natural predator, such as a coyote or mountain lion.
Storton indicated she filed a report with the Sheriff and that investigators are considering the case. ECM has contacted the Sheriff’s department to request information on this case and any other similar ones that may have been reported. Thus far, we have not received photos of this incident.
On the Next Door forum online, other residents of Spring Valley, Lemon Grove and Mt. Helix reported similar cases.
One poster on Kenwood Hill aid a cat was “dismembered and placed in front of a neighbor’s house” a few months ago. A man on Mt. Vernon in Lemon Grove says his cat was “found this way” last week as well. A fourth poster said her neighbor or friend had a cat on Mt. Vernon” sliced clean down the middle of the underside of his body.”
Felicia Pernicano told ECM that her cat, Bootsie, was found dead August 2nd in her neighbor’s yard on Lincoln in Lemon Grove. “This been so traumatic for me,” she said, adding that after reading on Next Door about similar incidents, she has notified authorities. Her children cautioned her not to look at the remains, but she has since seen photos taken by her daughter before the cat was buried. The photos showed “no blood on the rocks or bite tears,” adding, “it was a clear cut, you can see the white bones as if someone used a machete.”
Another resident on Golondrina on Mt. Helix sent ECM photos of her cat, which she said was found cut in half on July 30th in front of her home. In fact, the body was not severed and the head was still attached, however the body had been opened and organs were missing.
Neighbors are voicing concerns for the safety of cats, which should be kept indoors for protection regardless of whether the predator is animal or human. But some are posting worries that if the perpetrator is human, this could be symptomatic of a cult or potential serial killer, since the latter sometimes begin by killing or torturing animals.
Large animals and even birds of prey are capable of ripping a small animal in half. This reporter once found the back half of a rabbit in my backyard, only to look up and see a hawk on the roof with the front half of its prey. Tell-tale signs of animal activity include tooth penetration marks or signs of chewing or gnawing. Some predators such as lions have been known to drink blood and eat the organs of their prey. A forensic necropsy by an animal expert is sometimes needed to determine cause of death.
A similar killing occurred in Oceanside in 2010, when a cat was found cut cleanly in half with organs missing. Back then, officials concluded the cause was likely a coyote, though others remained skeptical. "Coyotes are very precise hunters," Humane Society spokeswoman Candice Eley said at the time, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. "It's not uncommon for us to be contacted by people who have cats that have been injured or died with injuries that look very suspicious or look very clean that are actually a coyote attack,” Eley added.
In 1989, dozens of grisly cat killings were believed by authorities to be caused by animals, despite a veterinarian who thought the deaths were intentional at the hands of a person. However Orange County’s veterinarian did tell the New York Times that about 10 cats a year had been found mutilated, usually around Halloween.
In Portland, Oregon in 2010, several heads of decapitated were found; authorities had mixed opinions on whether the cause was animal or human, a local FOX TV station reported.
Disturbingly, Liveleak.com has reported that a video in Syria shows terrorists how to behead cats and eat them. We are not linking to this disturbing video.
East County Magazine showed photos of the Quia, a cat owned by Elise Jenkins and found on Mt. Helix, to two wildlife biologists, Jim Wiegand and Renee Owens. (No other owner provided us photos of their deceased cats.) The animal’s mid-section had been opened in a near-circular pattern with organs removed.
Both experts agreed that this cat was likely killed by an animal predator, possibly one that was interrupted and dropped its prey.
Both agreed it was not a mountain lion that killed the cat. That’s consistent with information at the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage management Livestock and Predation Identification page, which states, “Lions usually feed first on the front quarters and neck region of their prey. The stomach is generally untouched. The large leg bones may be crushed and the ribs broken. Many times, after a lion has made a kill, the prey is dragged or carried into bushy areas and covered with litter.”
Wiegand states, “A mountain lion would eat this entire cat in one sitting. If Coyotes, then the pack would finish it off as well. I am thinking a Bob Cat. A look at the head and neck would verify this by the presence of lethal bite wounds. If killed and eaten by a hawk, eagle or owl, there would be fur scraps from plucking the fir that would be found around the cat.“
There have been unconfirmed bobcat sightings on Mt. Helix in recent months, and a new state law banning trapping of bobcats could be resulting in an increase in bobcat population locally.
Owens observed that “there are several scenarios with this cat, the most likely being that something killed it, was surprised by someone and left it, and birds then scavenged off of it, such as ravens or crows. The best forensic evidence is often not the prey but surroundings, including tracks, fur, feathers, and where it was found. Hemorrhage (seeing a lot of blood) occurs only if skin and tissue damage occurs while the animal is alive, so it is more likely this cat’s neck was broken, typical of both canine and feline predators, or being dropped by an owl. If a coyote or bobcat was left undisturbed to eat this, it would have consumed most of it, and would not consume it in this pattern.“
Another possibility, though “remote” would be that owl killed the cat, found it too heavy to lift and carry off to a high perch, and so began consuming it on the ground, the wildlife biologist suggested.
Owens said based on the photo, this was “not a typical feeding pattern of a bobcat or coyote” but added that a predator could have killed and abandoned the prey without finishing its meal, “then it was fed on by birds who are more likely to have caused this pattern.” She added that finding a head only, as occurred in another case locally, is more typical of coyote kills.
She said people should not “jump to conclusions yet that it is some psycho human,” she added. “If it were, you’d probably see more surgical cut(s), and even if sloppy, would likely look different than what you see in the photo. And psychos don’t usually leave their poor victims near where they were found.”
Keith Ryan from the San Sheriff’s Department told ECM, “Our detective is working on it; we haven’t determined yet if it was a coyote or a person,” with regard to the case of a cat cut completely in half, which sparked the discussion on Next Door. He added that it can be difficult to make this determination and said evidence has been turned over to an animal abuse expert.
Meanwhile, he advises the public, “If you feel something is suspicious and it doesn’t seem right, there is no harm in calling our non-emergency number” at (858) 565-5200 to report the incident.
Kyle Berchin with the Sheriff's Rancho San Diego investigative unit in Spring Valley says the cat found by Storton did appear to be more cleanly cut than most wildlife kills, but said he's not an expert. He said he plans to send photos of the severed cat to County Animal Control for evaluation. Meanwhile, he asks the public to report any suspicious activity such as "if someone tries to grab at cat at 2 a.m."