Mysterious reports of mutilated cats in east Vancouver’s Fishers Landing neighborhood have emerged in the last week.
Tim Lamb, who has family living in the neighborhood, said he came across a dead cat along Southeast 20th Street on Sunday evening as he was looking for his children’s missing cat.
The cat, which turned out not to be his children’s pet, had its head cut off, Lamb said. The Portland man said the wound was a clean cut, and did not resemble a coyote attack.
“I don’t think we are dealing with animal mutilation by another animal,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it at first.”
Neighbors living near Southeast 20th Street have reported to the media that a total of two cats were found mutilated in the area. However, Vancouver police and Clark County Animal Control officers said they hadn’t received any reports before Portland’s KATU-TV station aired a story Monday evening.
Paul Scarpelli, manager of Clark County Animal Control, said a woman who reported the cat attacks to KATU-TV left a voicemail message late Monday night, and officers were following up Tuesday. So far, the officers hadn’t been able to get in touch with the woman, Scarpelli said.
Scarpelli said cat attacks happen occasionally.
“We do get a number of cases over the years of cats being mutilated, usually by coyotes,” he said. “It does happen.”
Kim Kapp, Vancouver Police Department’s spokeswoman, said officers received a report of a cat attack last summer in the area of Clearmeadows Park, but they ruled it was the result of an animal attack.
