London serial cat killer turns out to be a fox
There might not be a maniacal cat-killer on the loose in London after all, or at least not a human one.
The mutilated remains of hundreds of domestic cats and kittens -- along
with some foxes and rabbits -- have been turning up in the south of
London since 2015.
Horrified locals have pinned the blame on a Jack the Ripper-type figure
dubbed the "Croydon Cat Killer" who got his kicks from disemboweling
pets and posing their remains near schools and outside owners' homes.
The hunt for the presumed killer or killers was picked up by animal
welfare groups and eventually Scotland Yard, which on Thursday reported
the findings of a three-year investigation.
A pet rescue and rehabilitation shelter called Snarl even published the
suspects' profile: a white man in his 40s who was 1.8 metres (5.9 feet)
tall.
But London police said the culprits were probably not human at all.
"Following a thorough examination of the available evidence, officers
working alongside experts have concluded that hundreds of reported cat
mutilations in Croydon and elsewhere were not carried out by a human and
are likely to be the result of predation or scavenging by wildlife,"
the Metropolitan Police said.
The lengthy police statement went through the details of the probe,
which involved detailed forensic work and the study of reams of CCTV
film.
Detectives said that even the discovery of a cat's head in a school playground had a perfectly innocent explanation.
"CCTV showed a fox carrying the head into the playground," the statement said.
Foxes were also blamed for the case of a woman who found a cat with no
head or tail near her property and another who found just the head in
her garden.
"All of the cases of cat mutilation will be recorded as 'no crime'," the police said.
Detectives added that they were aware of a similar spate of mutilations
some 20 years ago in Britain that was also eventually blamed on
scavengers like foxes.
A special "Fox Website" run by the University of Bristol says that up to 33,000 foxes live in urban areas in Britain.
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