Who’s killing all my cats?
There is an Animal Serial Killer loose in my neighborhood. For a long time I secretly suspected my next door neighbor of luring my cats to their death. He and his wife had made several ignorant statements like:”cats are evil…they will suck the life out of your babies“and others, but I had to rethink it when they moved a few years ago. The next logical conclusion in my mind:the wildlife.
If it were another animal (other than man), which of the many predators could it be? Living in a suburban neighborhood, surrounded by tract homes, it may be obvious to suspect roaming dogs. With their desire to escape their makeshift enclosures and join like-minded renegades on the prowl? These packs could prove deadly for anyone, even an unsuspecting cat, but don’t think that’s it either. I have thought for awhile now that it was their cousin the coyotes. My tract home sits less than a mile away from Cleveland National Forest and I have seen coyotes on the streets.
The coyote is faster than a greyhound and has adapted well to our encroachment into their hunting grounds. They happily took over the predictor niche left vacant by the eradication of the wolves and live quite successfully among us in most of the United States now. It makes sense to suspect the coyotes and maybe add to that the kittens lost to a bird of prey (owls, hawks, and those huge turkey vultures), I suspect I am closer to the truth. But something keeps nagging me: Why are some of the cats found dead the next day, but not eaten?
If you rule out poisoning (I am not doing so totally) accidental or on purpose what else could it be? How about raccoons?
The one thing that I have learned from personal experience with raccoons it that they are not afraid of me. I find that fact unnerving as they walk into my house and totally ignore me (hysterically screaming at the top of my lungs while doing a Mexican Hat Dance of Horror on top of my coffee table), all the while they going about the business of exploring my house, and only leave when the urge seemed to suit them.
I think it is raccoons.
I have been around raccoons my whole life and ours got along fine with our cats. I don’t think raccoons are your problem. You might try leaving your cats in the house so they are safe.