AUSTIN, Texas — A man in an East Austin neighborhood wants a more thorough investigation after he says he found two dead cats placed in his front yard two days in a row.
Todd Williams says his Colony Park neighborhood is no stranger to stray cats. On any given morning, he says he sees nine to 10 cats who would come to eat, hang out and walk around his yard.
As an animal lover with a cat of his own, Williams welcomes them with open arms and says it’s the right thing to do for them.
“There are a lot of them that were clearly emaciated and hadn’t eaten and you just wanna make sure that they eat,” Williams said. “They would just roam the neighborhood and not mess with anyone.”
Over the last few months, Williams says he slowly stopped seeing the strays who’d show up in his yard like clockwork every morning.
Two days ago, he found one dead in his yard.
“We thought, ‘Ok, maybe it got hit by a car or something. It happens, right,” Williams explained. “Then the second one popped up the very next day that had been shoved in a box, essentially, intentionally, and had passed for some time.”
Williams found two dead cats in his yard on back-to-back days. He said both cats seemed to be six months to a year old and looked like they could’ve been from the same litter.
“It’s horrifying,” Williams said. “My partner walked in, stunned, barely able to speak. I mean, we both love animals.”
Williams says he called 311, but there wasn’t much the agency could do except pick up the bodies.
Williams says he spoke to people a few neighborhoods down who’ve also been seeing dead cats in their neighborhood. He says he’s not sure if someone is dropping off cats at random, but that it can’t continue.
“You don’t want to see them hurt intentionally. It’s just not that good,” Williams said.
Williams says he’s installed cameras to see if it’ll happen again, and hopefully catch whoever may be responsible.
KVUE reached out to APD’s animal cruelty unit and detectives said if there’s suspicions of animal cruelty, it’s best to call 911 right away so officers can come out and collect evidence.
APD’s animal cruelty unit, which is made up of four officers, says it deals with 800 animal cruelty cases a year.