The Croydon Cat Killer is a modern urban legend of our times, except it’s true. Someone has been going around Croydon mutilating and killing cats. Starting off near Croydon, south London (hence the name), the criminal - because animal abuse is criminal - has killed more than 370 animals, including foxes and rabbits but mostly cats.
Some of the murders could have been at the hands of - sorry - copycats - but the police are hunting for the killer, who they say could be a white man in his 40s with short brown hair, but the lead detective has warned what might come next.
Detective Sergeant Andy Collin told Sky News: ‘There is a known link between serial killers and harming animals when you look into their dark history.
'If you look at offending patterns, the assumption is this killer is getting some form of gratification. The concern is they will cease getting that gratification and escalate the attacks to humans, specifically vulnerable women and girls.’
While there is no evidence to suggest that the Croydon Cat Killer will go on to hurt women and girls, Collin has previously pointed out: ‘Cats are targeted because they are associated with the feminine. The killer can't deal with a woman or women who are troubling him.’
And we sure hope the killer doesn’t deal with women in the way he’s dealt with cats, and gets caught ASAP. If you look at some of the most infamous serial killers in the UK, many started off by torturing mammals, birds or insects.
Infamous serial killers who have started off with animals include Jeffrey Dahmer, Ted Bundy, and Andrew Cunanan (Gianni Versace’s killer).
And, of course, Devin Kelley, who just last week opened fire in a church, killing 26 people before being shot by a local, retreating to his car and killing himself, didn’t only abuse his wife and son, and allegedly sexually harass several women, he also tortured his dog, and bought animals online for ‘target practice’, a colleague has said.
Murderers are likely to be troubled people, and animal abuse is such an obvious sign of a child being troubled, with 60% of abused children abusing animals, that if it’s spotted early on then interventions can be made to stop the child becoming a killer of people. That said, if you’re bothered about animal rights, it’s already a bit too late by that point. And how does a child magically become untroubled? It's not just by someone telling them not to pull the wings off of a fruit fly. The best way for abuse to stop, is, quite simply, for abusers to stop abusing; kids, women, animals, whoever.
As well as the RSPCA looking out for animals’ rights everywhere and anywhere in the UK, it has a scheme called PetRetrat, established in connection with Women’s Aid. Pets are often used by abusive partners as ways to control women who would like to leave them, and PetRetreat operates to foster animals with safe families while women and families fleeing domestic violence live in refuges. If you’d like to find out more about it, check it out here.
You might also be interested in:
'Dog Whisperer' Says Millennials Shouldn't Have Pets Because We're Always On The Phone
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.