Valley Independent Sentinel

Severed Cat’s Head Found In Oxford

by Eugene Driscoll | Jul 9, 2012 10:57 am

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Posted to: Oxford

The town’s animal control officer is worried after a severed cat’s head was found Saturday on Rolling Hills Drive.

This is the second severed cat’s head found in Oxford, according to Sandy Merry, the Oxford Animal Control Officer.

The first head was found on nearby Moose Hill Road some seven to eight months ago.

The first discovery raised little concern since coyotes are so common in Oxford, Merry said.

The second discovery Saturday is troublesome, Merry said. She thinks the severed head was purposefully placed on the road by a human.

“Someone is clean-cutting off cats’ heads and putting them in the street,” Merry said.

A veterinary technician who lives in the neighborhood spotted the severed head on the road at about 6 p.m.

She did not want to give the Valley Indy her name because she believes a crime took place and she fears reprisal.

The woman said the head was placed upright in middle of the travel lane, facing oncoming motorists heading down Rolling Hills Road toward Moose Hill Road.

“It was strategically placed in the middle of the road,” the woman said.

Oxford police sent Assistant Animal Control Officer Cori Wlasuk to check it out at about 6:15 p.m.

Three people — Wlasuk, the vet tech and a friend of the vet tech’s who is also in the medical field as a pathologist — examined the head Saturday.

All three believe the wounds did not look like the cat’s head was severed by a wild animal.

“Coyotes, fox etc. take the entire body and they rip flesh,” Wlasuk said in an e-mail. “This was not ripped, it was neatly severed.”

There was also no traces of blood under the head.

“It was a clean cut. There was no blood underneath. It’s not like it was hit by a car,” the veterinary technician said. “Obviously there is some psychopath out here.”

Eagles and owls have been known, on occasion, to attempt to take cats, but Oxford Animal Control said this isn’t the case due to the nature of the wound.

“There’s no way an animal did it. It had to be the work of a human,” Merry said.

Wlasuk photographed the head, which was later buried.

Abbie Dembek, 14, said her mother, Luci, also saw the head in the road on Saturday, at about 3:30 p.m. while driving on Rolling Hills Road.

“She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to upset me,” Abbie said.

Later in the day, her mom chatted with neighbors who told her it was definitely a cat’s head.

“She was upset,” the teen said.

Oxford Animal Control asked police to open a case file and start an investigation, Merry said.

Officials don’t know who owned the cat.

Merry asked anyone with information about the incident to call Oxford Animal Control at 203 881 3653.

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