Steven Hill
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A Brackendale resident made a gruesome and disturbing discovery April 11 while mowing his lawn - a severed cat's head.
Ed Seider said he had seen something under his crabapple tree the day before, but thought nothing of it.
"We did notice it on Monday morning, not knowing it was a head, because it was rolled in moss," he said. "We didn't think much about it, but when I was cutting my lawn on Tuesday, I got close up to it and saw it was actually a cat's head."
But, Seider said it wasn't until he got a closer look that he really became concerned.
"I was wondering how it got there," he said of his first reaction to the discovery. "I was more curious when I went and got some gloves, picked it up and discovered it had been severed."
The nature of the cut told Seider the cat had been purposefully mutilated by a human.
"It was a straight cut," he said. "I have seen stuff attacked by animals, but this was definitely a straight cut."But two days later, the grisly mystery deepened.
"The most concerning part was we found the head on Tuesday, but Thursday morning I found another piece - the rear leg," he said. "I had gone all around the yard to see if there were any other parts after I found the head, and there were none.
"The strange part was it was really fresh," he said. "Maybe it had been kept in a fridge. It was quite strange."An animal had already gotten to the second piece, so Seider could not tell if it too had been cut by a human hand, although he did confirm it was from the same cat.
"That was when I decided to call the SPCA and RCMP," he said. "I called the SPCA and got a recording, as they have limited hours, and the recording said in the case of animal cruelty or violence to call the RCMP. I then called the non-emergency number of the RCMP, explained what had happened and they put me on hold for a while, came back and said 'They are not interested.'"
With no further recourse, Seider canvassed the neighbourhood to find the unfortunate pet's owner."It ended up being a neighbour's cat," he said.
Cpl Dave Ritchie of the local RCMP told The Chief no report had been made of Seider's call, and police were indeed interested in cases of animal cruelty and violence.
Seider met with Ritchie April 20 at the RCMP detachment and was told an investigation into the incident was underway. Ritchie also told Seider an internal investigation was also underway to determine why his original call was disregarded in the first place.
Brenda Cookson of the local SPCA said a report on the matter was in progress.
Cookson said anyone wishing to report such incidents should contact the RCMP when the SPCA is closed.Seider said he did not think he was the intended target of a sick mind.
"The head had been placed in a spot where people stopping at the nearby stop sign could easily see it," he said.
