SPCA Investigates Dead Cats In New York Suburb

About 25 dead cats found in plastic bags hanging from trees in a New York suburb were apparently killed with blows to the head at various times over the past year, an investigator said Friday.

"Pretty disturbing, smashing their heads in and displaying them like that," he said. "We have found, in the past, cases where cats were poisoned, but we've never seen anything where they're killing them this violently."

Lungaro said a baseball bat, two shovels and a metal pipe were found near the scene in a wooded area just off Overlook Terrace in Yonkers, about a mile and a half north of the Bronx. He said investigators were not yet sure that those items had been used in the killings.

It also wasn't known if the killings were the work of one or more people, he said. Either way, they are disturbing because of studies that indicate a link between the killings of animals and violence against people, Lungaro said.