The NYPD\u2019s Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad is looking into a cluster of seven stray cats found dead in a South Brooklyn backyard. Local cat rescuers and state Sen. Steve Chan said they\u2019ve received more reports of cats and other animals turning up dead \u2014 and worry the cats are being intentionally poisoned.<\/p>\n
Police said officers recovered the remains of seven cats from a home near 86th Street and 16th Avenue, and have sent them for necropsy to further investigate the cause of death.<\/p>\n
The seven cats recovered by police were part of a colony Bath Beach resident Albert Vincent Berto said he\u2019s been feeding twice a day for years. He said three weeks ago, fewer and fewer cats started showing up to their feedings. Then, after only one showed up earlier this week, he said he decided on Tuesday to open up the deck in his backyard, where the cats would sleep. That\u2019s when he found seven dead cats, all bleeding from the nose and mouth, Berto said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was so many of them. They were all laying next to each other. It was so sad,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ve been up for three days straight now. All I see is the dead cats. That’s all I see in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local animal rescuers \u200aDinamarie Fioto, who runs the St. Vincent Feline Rescue, and Reeva Grammatikopoulos, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, said they rushed to help, hoping there would be live cats they could help save. Instead, Fioto pulled the deceased cats out from the deck, one at a time. She said their bodies, bleeding from their noses and mouths, showed signs of having suffered.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo physically see it is to understand how bad this was,\u201d Fioto said. \u201cIt’s just, you know, you have these animals slowly suffering for an hour at a time\u2026 It’s just not right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berto said he\u2019s received complaints from neighbors about the cats, and believes someone intentionally poisoned them. Grammatikopoulos said she believes it could have been rat poison.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aSeeing the blood coming out of the eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth, you know that it’s an anticoagulant ’cause the, the cat’s bleeding internally. There’s no clot,\u201d she said. \u201cSo it’s a type of rodenticide that actually has an anticoagulant in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chan said he agrees the number of cats dead points to intentionality.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aI’m a retired police officer of 27 years, and I know how some people can get with the stray cats, they dislike them,\u201d he said. \u201cI know for a fact that somebody who is really trying to poison the rats will put them in a cat-proof dispenser. When you just lay it on a pan out in an open lot, you’re poisoning every animal that comes across that poison. So this is intentional. I think somebody’s got it out for cats.\u201d<\/p>\n