Wednesday, October 15, 2008
The Humane Society of the United States and the Lawrence Humane Society are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for a recent string of cat mutilations in Lawrence.
The announcement came days after local resident Mark McCanon found his 13-year-old white Manx cat, Sugar, gutted in his backyard with its hind legs and tail lying nearby. Other neighbors on the 3200 block of West Ninth Street found their cats mutilated on different occasions, and police reports indicate that several other incidents of animal cruelty occurred in September.
Midge Grinstead, executive director of the Lawrence Humane Society, said a cat’s severed head was also found in Centennial Park.
Grinstead said the first mutilated cat body was discovered six weeks ago, and the most recent victim was discovered Friday.
She said she wouldn’t discuss any leads for fear that it might compromise the investigation. But she said she thought that, based on similar animal cruelty cases from the past, the suspects probably lived in the neighborhood on the 3200 block, where many of the cat killings took place.
Mary Prewitt, director of the Kansas State Humane Society of the United States, said it was obvious that these mutilations were human acts committed intentionally.
She said they included decapitations and eviscerations with clean cuts rather than the kind of ragged edges that resulted when inflicted by the teeth of another animal.
A person convicted of this type of crime, Prewitt said, could face a felony penalty, including a year in jail, a mandatory psychological evaluation and restrictions on owning animals in the future. People who intentionally torture animals often go on to commit violent crimes against humans, she said.
“The most notorious example of that in Kansas is Dennis Rader, the so-called BTK murderer,” Prewitt wrote in an e-mail. “He admitted to ‘practicing on animals’ before going on to commit some of the most gruesome crimes the state has ever seen.”
Crimestoppers is also offering a separate reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to felony arrests. According to a press release by the Humane Society of the United States, Crimestoppers pays rewards for the suspect’s arrest, while the Humane Society of the United States pays rewards if the suspect is convicted.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call 785-832-7509.
— — Edited by Scott R. Toland
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Reward offered in investigation of murdered cats
Notice the similarities ... review my comments in the LJWorlds articles .. not the first time we've seen serial pet mutilation in Lawrence Kansas!!
Put your pet detective hats on - your pets will love you for it.
http://wichita.craigslist.org/rnr/880646681.html
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