Serial cat killer on the loose again in Tokyo's Setagaya

In a quiet park in Setagaya, Tokyo, where mothers bring their children to play, the local police department has posted a sign with a rather disturbing warning: “There have been incidents of cat abuse, such as the pouring of chemicals on the animals.”

In the park vicinity, a number of injured cats have been found, with badly scalded skin. These victimized cats had been found by members of a non-profit organization, “Neko no Dairinin-tachi” (Cat Representatives). “According to the veterinarian, either boiling water, hot oil or some kind of sulfuric acid had been poured on the creatures,” says NPO representative Mitsuko Nakamura.

Since the first feline victim was found with an injury around its neck in February this year, a total of 16 cases have been reported in five months. Some died because of the severity of the wounds, while the majority could not be captured successfully. Out of those that were rescued, only four cats have survived.

Local police speculate that the suspect may have sprayed the chemical using a syringe or a water pistol from behind while the cat was eating.

Mothers who frequent the park with their children say that the series of attacks are disconcerting. Their worries are justified because residents in the area have either heard of or remember a similar incident from 10 years ago.

Veteran volunteers of the local humane society recall the series of cat killings in the Setagaya area, in which 13 cats died. “Shortly after 13 stray cats had been neutered and released, someone used chemicals and killed every single one of them. We reported the incidents to the police, but nothing was done about it.”

A year later, the local police station contacted the organization, investigating the possible connection between the brutal murder of a family in Setagaya in late 2000, still unsolved, and the cat abuse. Clearly, local residents fear that there is something ominous about the recent events.

Sophia University Professor Emeritus and criminal psychologist Akira Fukushima comments, “The fact that the abuse is directed solely at stray cats and not household pets points to an individual whose tendency is to victimize animals somehow identified as weaker. The possibility of such acts escalating to a random assault targeting, in particular, children and women should not be entirely dismissed.”

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Latest 15 of 52 Total Comments Show All

jeffrey at 12:46 AM JST - 23rd July

This wouldn't even be an issue if the Japanese government simply insisted that all cats and dogs sold at pet stores or by breeders be spayed and neutered as a matter of ownership. The last two cats we had were nora-neko.
Farmboy at 07:20 AM JST - 23rd July

I really don't see how the discussion moves from some sicko pouring chemicals on animals to the problem of stray cats. There is no justification for these actions.
DeepAir65 at 09:59 AM JST - 23rd July

perhaps people should stop feeding them in the parks then. I was walking through one setagaya park the other day and saw a man feeding about a dozen stray cats.

Almost as bad as the twit I saw feeding the crows!!!

Moderator: All readers back on topic please. The subject is the killing of these cats, not what you think about cats or crows.
dr_jones at 11:49 AM JST - 23rd July

hang that guy! But before please let me spend some time with him in a room alone!
nandakandamanda at 05:49 PM JST - 23rd July

Bento, my implication was that whoever killed the mother and brother also killed the cat. I was agreeing with the body of opinion on this site that people who end up as murderers often enjoyed killing and maiming smaller creatures when they were younger. Here was a good example of a crossover between the two worlds.
bokudayo at 07:09 PM JST - 23rd July

Stray cats are no different than any other kind of vermin. They don't belong to anyone so killing them is not a crime. But, you should clean up after taking care of things.
Speed at 11:37 PM JST - 23rd July

> fds at 11:57 AM JST - 21st July didn't the kid who cut off a couple of other kids' heads start off with cats? where is he now? >

He was reported to be living somewhere in Ehime. I have no sympathy for those who hurt helpless animals, so a slow chemical death to this coward. JT, which park? Give us the name.
iraira at 10:25 AM JST - 24th July

From the article, Veteran volunteers of the local humane society recall the series of cat killings in the Setagaya area, in which 13 cats died. “Shortly after 13 stray cats had been neutered and released, someone used chemicals and killed every single one of them.”

Ok, bad TV plot line here, so someone got to all 13 of a specific group of cats....meaning unless there had been a wholesale slaughter of cats, someone knew those cats, where they had been released, etc. Might want to check people volunteering at the local humane society at the time the time that the incidents occurred.
Monoflow at 03:44 PM JST - 24th July

There is killing and killing... If he don't like stray cats, okay, but then don't kill'em that way, punk. In my country, there's a animal care law and people like that would be punished seriously (not prison, of course, but a lot of money). You might feel, whatever you want, but there's no reason just to kill ... a real sick mind.
Bento at 06:40 PM JST - 24th July

nanda,"Bento, my implication was that whoever killed the mother and brother also killed the cat" why the need to imply this when all three are lying dead is a cold fact and the likely killer is obvious. no your implication was the perp of that crime might be the same person as has recently started maiming cats in the area.If it was merely as you claim then there would have been no need to go to the extra trouble of typing "unsolved murder" and highlighting the area in which it occurred.A simple statement about it would have fulfilled your desire for "good example of a crossover..." You included "unsolved" not because it is/was unsolved but because you wanted to imply a connection with this particular cat killer.

Moderator: Readers, please focus your comments on the Setagaya crimes, not unsolved murder cases.
XXXXX at 04:39 AM JST - 25th July

Nothing's worse than mistreating cats or small animals like that.
XXXXX at 04:51 AM JST - 25th July

I mean, skip the like-that.
cwhite at 04:15 AM JST - 27th July

pity the cats can't get rid of some of the stray humans

Why does the "humane" society just "release" humans back into the city? Instead of either trying to find homes for them, or putting them to sleep?

When a human has been born and raised as a stray, it's very difficult for it to adapt to life in a family. And there is no reason at all to euthanise healthy animals just because some cats find them inconvenient.
cwhite at 04:16 AM JST - 27th July

as you can see some humans seem to think they own the planet...
Bento at 05:39 PM JST - 29th July

whilst other humans seem to think "off planet"