Killer-torturer of cats sought in Kensington after mutilated bodies found

Animal-welfare investigators believe that a "serial killer" may be stalking and torturing cats in a Kensington neighborhood.

Yesterday, agents from the Pennsylvania SPCA found another cat beaten to death in the same area, near F and Tioga streets, where three cats had been found Monday with their heads caved in. A stake was rammed down the throat of one.

On Saturday, a fifth cat, also with a stake jammed down its throat, was discovered in the area by sanitation workers, according to PSPCA agents.

The agency is offering a $10,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed and mutilated the cats. Tipsters are asked to call the PSPCA cruelty hot line at 1-866-601SPCA.

Neighbors were "very shocked," and had been unaware of the animal cruelty, said Elaine Rash, block captain of F Street near Venango. "We have one of the better-controlled blocks in the neighborhood."

If the torturer does something this cruel to an animal, "what are they doing to their children?" Rash asked.

The PSPCA got involved after being notified by a man who found the three cats Monday on the sidewalk on Weymouth Street near Tioga. The man, who Rash said had moved to F Street only recently, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday.

That area of Weymouth Street is lined with garages, rather than homes, said PSPCA investigator Wayne Smith and Gregory Jordan, an animal-cruelty agent.

Two of the cats found Monday had severe head injuries and the third had been nearly impaled through the mouth with a large wooden stick but also had been struck on the head, and a plastic cord was tied around its neck.

The agents said that the force needed to push the stick into the cat's mouth indicated the torturer or torturers had to be either teenagers or adults.

Smith and Jordan said none of the dead cats appeared to be pets.

After being taken to the PSPCA, their bodies were scanned for identifying microchips without success.

"We also checked lost-and-found reports and the cats didn't match," said PSPCA spokeswoman Heather Redfern.

Kensington has been the scene of dogfighting and cockfighting, Smith said, and it was not uncommon for cats to be attacked, there and elsewhere.

"We've seen cats that have been hung, hit by a bat or smacked with a stick," Smith said. "But this is a little different.

"Somebody actually took the time out to befriend" or track and trap the cats, Smith said. "It was all very deliberate and very vicious."

George Bengal, PSPCA's director of investigations, said, "We need to apprehend the person or persons responsible for these heinous acts now, before more innocent animals are harmed." *