More dead cats found in Denver area
'It breaks my heart'
Monday, June 30, 2003 Posted: 9:47 PM EDT (0147 GMT)
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DENVER, Colorado (AP) -- Four more dead cats have been found in the Denver area, heightening fear among pet owners that a serial cat killer is in their midst.
Authorities say at least 40 mutilated cats have been discovered in Denver and its suburbs in the past year, including four killed over the weekend. The toll in Salt Lake City is 10 cats and another unidentified animal.
Christy Hughes had stopped reading stories about the attacks. Then her husband found the eviscerated body of their 15-year-old cat, Bugsy, outside the front door of their Aurora home two weeks ago.
"I blame myself, because had I read it, I never would have let my cat outside," she said Monday. "I've had a hard time forgiving myself for that."
Authorities are worried that despite the attacks, pet owners still are letting their cats roam outside.
"I've had people say, 'They don't like to stay inside,"' said Temma Martin, spokeswoman for Salt Lake County Animal Services. "Well, look at the stakes here."
In several cases, it appears the attacker kills the cat, then taunts the owner by bringing back the remains. Some of the animals were cut with surgical precision. Some may have been killed by another animal.
The Colorado penalty for aggravated cruelty to animals is up to 18 months in jail and a $100,000 fine.
Hughes said Bugsy was attacked sometime between 1 a.m., when he last went out, and 6:15 a.m., when he was found dead.
She said she is "retraining" her two kids and husband not to let their two kittens outside anymore.
"For a week I couldn't sleep because I just kept seeing my cat over and over," she said. "It breaks my heart seeing somebody else go through this."
