Content warning for: animal death, graphic imagery, animal mutilation
One of my neighbours, distraught, asks the people living on our street if anyone has seen her cat. It’s gone missing. That’s not unusual- cats enjoy leaving the house (in the times of a pandemic, more than people, even) and often wander away for a few hours before eventually meandering back. But this particular feline has been missing for over a day, not having eaten the last five meals. Nobody had seen the animal, but everyone assured her they would keep a look out.
A couple of days pass, and most people have forgotten about the worried message she sent. At this point, if the cat hasn’t been found, anyways, the chances of it being in the area are low, anyways. The cat isn’t forgotten by the owner, but not just because of attachment to a pet.
The unfortunate animal is definitely dead. Not because it got run over by a car or ran out of water, but because it was killed. The tail was cut off- and the person who did it must have known who the victim belonged to- because its tail was posted through the mailbox.
This vile, visceral event wasn’t a one-off, a bitter act of revenge or hate, however. The police were involved, given the horrific nature of the event, and they confirmed this had happened before, in the same area, recently. Nobody has been apprehended. The cats I used to see on the road aren’t let out of their houses anymore.
It appears that cats aren’t the only thing on the prowl. Fortunately, no slaughtered pet has been reported since. Hopefully, it was a freak coincidence that won’t happen again.
