For the Metropolitan Police and London pet owners, the numbers are staggering. Between 2014 and 2018, Londoners found more than 400 dead cats all over the city. Many corpses have been mutilated with surgical precision, leading to rumors of a mysterious person behind all this action, with the nickname “Croydon Cat Killer”.
While many people fear that Croydon Cat Killer can harm animals, it is certain that he will one day turn the knife on the people of London. Then an investigation was opened with the participation of both the police and anatomical scientists, veterinarians. According to The Independent, researchers from the Royal Veterinary College concluded that the cats weren’t killed at all by a human, instead, the red fox was the main culprit.
The study, published in the journal Veterinary Pathology, involved DNA testing, scientific imaging and autopsies of 32 cats found dead between 2016 and 2018. With a third of them they were killed by the accused and the rest died from natural causes or from accidents.
The results found a clear link between mutilation of cat carcasses and the presence of fox DNA on the carcasses of cats, the study explains, according to The Standard.
In 2018, the London Metropolitan Police released the results of an investigation into a series of cat killings, dubbed “Operation Takahe”, but the investigation did not find any trace of the cat’s involvement. people.
According to The Standard, Scotland Yard (a metonymy for the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters, which is responsible for keeping order in large parts of London) did not detect any suspects on London’s CCTV surveillance network, nor did they detect any suspects. as witnesses or forensic evidence. Scotland Yard’s conclusion found that the cause of death came from vehicle and wildlife collisions.
But a lot of citizens rejected the study’s results. More than 20,000 people have signed an online petition in protest, and are determined to find the real culprit – definitely a human.
Ultimately, however, the Royal Veterinary College came up with the same results as the police after a second, three-year study combined with a Scotland Yard worth more than $170,000.
Stuart Orton, Chief Inspector of East Hertfordshire, said: “While this topic was a matter of much speculation online at the time, we believe there was no human involvement in the cat killings.” .
“The investigation took three years to come to fruition. There were too many reports from the public, and we had to contact experts to gather all possible evidence,” – quoted the report from the department. Croydon police. “There is no evidence of human traces in the reported cases. No witnesses, no identification samples, no forensic evidence relating to humans. Suspicious reports are noted, But there was no suspect. In the three CCTV footage collected, there were foxes with a part of the cat’s body.”
The study found that red foxes ate 10 out of 32 cats. Eight other cats died of heart failure, six from severe trauma believed to have been in a car crash, another from antifreeze poisoning, and another from liver failure. The remaining six had mutilated cuts so disfiguring that scientists could not determine the cause of death.
The historian of criminology at the University of Exeter believed from the outset that media coverage fueled fear among residents, so that the media felt need to keep reporting on this issue – creating a cycle.
According to IFL Science, red foxes are very common in the London area and they will eat anything they come across in residents’ backyards and gardens, including cat and cat food. And the cat killer Croydon, could be any of the 10,000 red foxes that inhabit London.
“As veterinary professionals, we know how difficult it can be for owners when a beloved pet passes away, especially under circumstances that seem mysterious or suspicious,” Dr Martineau said.
“While the public’s concern about the safety of their pets is completely understandable, our investigation into the deaths of these cats demonstrates the importance of this approach. based on evidence to investigate cases like this.”
Not everyone seems to agree with this conclusion, especially when there are many rumors about the killer. For example, it was reported that the perpetrator was a white male in his 40s with a long scar on his face. However, there is no evidence for this and the red fox is still the culprit after investigations by scientists and police.
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