Cats cut to pieces, left at school
Mt Pleasant, QLD (AU)Incident Date: Thursday, Nov 6, 2008
Disposition: Open
Suspect(s) Unknown - We need your help!
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A family cat was sawn to pieces and dumped at a primary school oval in Queensland on Thursday.
Four-year-old Basil was discovered decapitated and sliced up by horrified students.
The pet, described by his owner, Kylie Matthews, as a friendly sook, was decapitated and hacked to pieces sometime after dashing out the family's front door in Mackay on Tuesday night.
Ms Matthews, 22, has shielded herself from most of the horror of her beloved cat's torture.
"Dad is keeping some of the grisly details from me about what they found at the school oval and that is OK," she said.
"I have been a mess. Basil was the perfect pet. I just want the police to find the people who did this."
Ms Matthews was 18 when she bought Basil from a pet shop as a kitten.
"He really was a part of the family," she said.
Autopsy results suggested the pet's remains had been hosed down before being dumped at Northview State Primary School in Mt Pleasant to prevent there being any evidence linking the cat's remains to his killer.
Mackay police are investigating the matter but the family said initial autopsy results confirmed Basil's attacker was human, not animal.
"He was butchered. The autopsy said the cuts were clean," Ms Matthews said.
It is not known yet, however, if Basil was already dead when he was sliced open.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said he feared there had been an escalation in acts of cruelty towards animals in the past two months.
The attack on Basil came just three weeks after a fox terrier puppy named Peanut was allegedly stolen in Moranbah, west of Mackay, and tortured to death with secateurs and a pocket knife.
"I hope this is not a copy-cat situation," Mr Beatty said.
"We must treat this seriously as a society. Torturing an animal is only one step away from torturing a human; the links have been clearly established."
Ms Matthews said she feared the cat killers might strike again.
"What type of sick person unleashes that brutality on a helpless animal?" she asked. "And to dump Basil in a school ground where it is very likely young children will find him is just sick".
The Matthews family has plastered posters around Mackay, offering a $500 reward for help to find Basil's killer.
Case UpdatesTwo cats have been tortured and dumped at Mackay schools in the past four weeks, Queensland police say. The body of a four-year-old cat named Basil was found decapitated and sliced up at Northview State Primary School in Mackay on November 6.
Police said a second cat was tortured and dumped at another school in the central Queensland coastal city this month.
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beatty said both were disturbing acts of animal cruelty.
"Research in America and Europe have shown that serial killers have a history of animal cruelty,'' Mr Beatty said.
"I think is very disturbing and must be treated very seriously.''
Police are appealing for information. | Source: The Australian - Nov 10, 2008
Update posted on Nov 10, 2008 - 8:54AM |
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