At least half a dozen cats have disappeared or been killed in the past few weeks, say neighbors in a Northwest Dallas neighborhood.
Four cats have been found dead in the past two days.
“Billy” was one of two cats found dead Monday on Countess Drive near Webb Chapel Road and Walnut Hill Lane.
He was the beloved pet of Melissa Neatherlin and her family. But she said she fears the cat may have been too friendly for his own good.
“It’s hard thinking that anybody would call him to them and he came trustingly, thinking he was going to get a little bit of love, and that’s how it ended,” Neatherlin said.
Witnesses said one of the cats found Monday had been severed from the waist down. The lower torso of the second cat was all that was found.
“It’s disturbing,” said witness Jackie Mavor. “It doesn’t appear that it happened in the yard; it looks like it was just left there.”
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When cats started disappearing several weeks ago, neighbors suspected that natural predators may be to blame. But the witnesses said the wounds on these animals did not appear natural.
"Felix," a cat belonging to Brian Hamilton's grandmother was found dead in a neighbor’s yard with what may have been a stab wound.
“They found the collar though, that same day by the house, which means they came up to the house and tried to get him,” Hamilton said.
Neatherlin said she is anxious that people are treating animals this way.
“And to think that’s what’s happening around us and our children -- it’s very frightening,” she said.