'Serial Cat Killings' Shock Miami Suburbs

Cats in the suburbs of Miami are turning up on lawns murdered and mutilated, the Herald reports. Some 20 animals have been victims of what the Humane Society has termed “serial cat killings” in two neighborhoods. "We take a very dim view of this,'' said a rep for the Miami-Dade police, who are investigating. “We find it very disturbing an individual would do something like this to defenseless animals.”

The cats are skinned and have their bellies cut open; a Humane Society rep quoted an investigator as saying they looked like “little trophies.” Said one cat owner whose pet was killed: “The police said some cats were missing up to a week and then showed up back at their [owner's] house dismembered and killed. Somebody is thinking about what he's doing." (More crime stories.)