Cats are being found dead in Point Douglas; animal advocates hope police can find out why
CBC
Winnipeg animal advocates are hoping for answers as police investigate reports of cats being found dead in the Point Douglas area.
Winnipeg police said its major crimes unit is investigating those reports during a news conference last week where police announced charges against two people in connection with a case involving the slayings of cats. A police spokesman said the crimes are unrelated.
"It's gruesome and it's heartbreaking," said Point Douglas resident Kendra Halabicki, who runs a cat rescue out of her home in the area. "One of the cats that was first found, I actually had her in my home … so to find her horribly hurt and killed was heartbreaking."
Halabicki said a handful of cats have been found dead in the area with parts of their body missing, dating back to the summer.
Halabicki said she found four of them herself, one of which "had its jaw ripped off."
She said the deaths have left others in the area shaken.
"A lot of people in Point Douglas allow their cats to be outside," Halabicki said. "Most of them are outside during the daytime when the people are working from home and then at night time they're brought inside for safety.
"And now people are fighting their cats to keep them in because they're worried that their cats are going to get injured."
Halabicki said an owner brought a cat to a veterinarian she uses for her animal rescue with a large gash across its back
"It was horrific and the cat was alive," she said. "Because the home owner couldn't afford the surgery the cat needed, they had to surrender it to the Humane Society and that's sad."
A City of Winnipeg spokesperson said Monday "animal services has received five recent reports regarding dismembered cats in the Point Douglas area."
Winnipeg police said Friday a man, 40, and a woman, 55, have been charged with torturing and killing 10 cats.
Police also said they don't believe that case is connected to the deaths of cats in Point Douglas.
"We are able to confirm that at this time there is no evidence linking the dead cats found in Point Douglas to the animal cruelty arrest mentioned in this morning's press conference," police spokesperson Const. Stephen Spencer said in an email Friday.
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