To think that the idea that the Croydon Cat killer is actually a Fox is a load of b*ll**cks

[mumof2andsurviving]

^^just that really. I'm not buying this fox theory. Mutilated cats left on owners doorsteps...don't think even the most intelligent foxes could manage that.

AIBU to feel that either a) the police no longer have resources to spend on this or b) it is a tactic used to try and lull the perpetrator into a false sense of security?

Hanging about waiting for a cat to take, sees it come from a house or garden.Access to supermarket card details showing pet food, or a pet food delivery, works for a delivery company that delivers pet food. A box with Zooplus on the label is a giveaway for instance. Drone to see pets in back gardens.

Barking. And not like a dog. Sometimes the most simple explanation is the best.

Look, there probably have been a couple of cases of cats being deliberately harmed by people. There will be hundreds more which have been hit by a car, or had some other sort of accident and because it's happened within a 50 mile radius of London, batshit owners are assuming their pets are being targeted by some serial cat killer.

And all buying into the hysteria whipped up by well-meaning, if totally misguided, cat fanatics.

Crazy.

I don't believe the fox theory, I have seen several of these cases where vets have determined injuries could only have been caused a very sharp, precise blade, to the best of my knowledge, fox kills are not 'clean' in that way.

The cuts were clean slices not rips, they were done with a knife. It was definitely some fucked up human, so the question is - why the hell are the police lying?

its bollocks, and cats generally don't go home to die, they run away and hide

I disagree based on what I’ve experienced. I’ve had two cats that were hit by a car (several years ago, separate incidents) and both made a valiant effort to reach home before they died.

When I was growing up we came home to find our terribly injured cat almost dead on our doorstep. She’d been attacked by dogs three streets away but made it home.

IME cats very much do try to get home when mortally injured. I haven’t heard anything about this story but can believe that it’s possible the cats are reaching the doorstep on their own after injury.

Well the cat killer now needs to kill/leave bodies, in a way that leaves no doubt it's not foxes

Maybe it's a nudge to get him to leave more detail
Or the police are hiding something (doubtful)
Or the reports have all been iver exaggerated.... have we seen these knife wounds? Not in the media I assume

People do like to jump on bandwagons.

Without their heads, yeah that's what's happened

Foxes absolutely will decapitate things they scavenge so yes I can believe that.

Like I said, though, I find it hard to believe foxes will also leave scavenged prey in carrier bags as some of these cats have been left.

I also don't think its mad having so many officers on the case either, don't people who hurt/kill animals generally go on to hurt/kill people?

either way, whoever is doing it is clearly not right in the head and needs locking up.

This thread is batshit

I didnt realise how clueless city dwellers could be about foxes. They absolutely do decapitate small animals. Particularly if that animal is dead first.

*This thread is batshit

I didnt realise how clueless city dwellers could be about foxes. They absolutely do decapitate small animals. Particularly if that animal is dead first.*

Have you read about the cases where post mortems have been carried out and qualified vets have said the wounds have been caused by sharp implements such as knives? This isn't just about clueless city dwellers

I also don't think its mad having so many officers on the case either, don't people who hurt/kill animals generally go on to hurt/kill people?

Yep, this is what one of the officers on the case said was his concern. That this type of mutilating animals is a cause for concern as to what they could be capable of.

I don't think it is likely to be a fox tbh, maybe some of them, but if I remember correctly some of the cats had been skinned. It is probably a ploy to calm people and get the killer to show his hand. They had so many officers on it as they believe he will escalate to killing people.

Particularly if that animal is dead first
Which would be the flip side of my earlier post.
Hit by a car, makes its way home or at least attempts to make its way home, dies enroute, fox finds it in the vicinity of home, owner finds it in the morning.

It could still be either way, some of the cats have clearly been documented that a knife was involved.

I didnt realise how clueless city dwellers could be about foxes. They absolutely do decapitate small animals. Particularly if that animal is dead first.

We are not clueless city dwellers. It's not just about the decapitating of animals. It's about the precision of the cuts. Its about the fact that foxes have been targeted to. It's about the way that entrails have been placed, and the the way that the animals have been "displayed". We know that foxes do kill. This is different. It's more calculated.

The fox that did this was very smart:

www.whtimes.co.uk/news/potters-bar-woman-speaks-out-following-croydon-cat-killer-conclu-1-5704427

I didnt realise how clueless city dwellers could be about foxes. They absolutely do decapitate small animals. Particularly if that animal is dead first.

Perhaps read the thread and reconsider. A fox might decapitate a small animal, however it won't be a clean cut. Any city dweller that can read the reports of the killings will realise that. Clueless? Only if they don't read the information available.

I think this thread is testament to why the case probably needs to be dropped tbph.

Cats have been decapitated and ‘displayed’ on doorsteps.
They’ve been cut with knives, as identified in post mortems.
Entrails have been placed precisely.
Bodies have been left in carrier bags.
Headless corpses have been dangled from school gates.
Legs have been removed with sharp cuts.
Microchips have been removed purposely.
There is no blood found at the scene of the murders.
Corpses have been displayed on car bonnets.
Corpses have been displayed in children’s play areas.
A man with a head torch has been seen luring cats.

This is a list of all the things mumsnetters ‘know’ about this psycho cat killer and their victims from only TWO pages of this thread.

I’m sorry for the poor cats but seriously listen to yourselves 🙈

@MicroManaged you realise that list is all stuff that has been reported in the news from the police? It's not just mumsnetters getting carried away making it all up

But the fox behaviourist academic from U of Birmingham very explicitly said that foxes can make clean cuts. They usually don’t, but they can.

And given that they scavenge tens of thousands of small animals a year, it just so happens that the minority with clean cuts/decapitation/playing with entrails have been singled out.

I don’t think it’s an urban/rural divide though, mind, because it’s urban foxes who have so thrillingly adapted and evolved to the new environment. They are fucking nuts let me tell you. A few months ago I saw an urban fox scavenge from a bin in a playground FULL OF CHILDREN in broad daylight. This was in St Luke’s Gardens in central London. And before that I’ve seen a MASSIVE fox sauntering down St James’s, weaving in and out of commuters legs and trying to pick fights with lap dogs on their morning walk.

About 7,000 cats are killed every year by cars. Even if the serial killer had existed, it was never a logical thing for people to worry about - your cat was and is far more likely to be killed by a car if it’s an outdoor cat. If you’re happy to accept that risk (and no judgement from me on that front! Cats love the outdoors!) it never made sense to worry about the tiny likelihood of this.

Micromanaged. Explain to me what my two looked like when I found them? If you think it's all nonsense

I forgot to where I lived we had scaffolding put up and a woman's cat was getting out the window and going down the scaffolding to get to the ground, this cat returned home amazingly one day with its leg sliced clean of just one whole leg it died soon as it got back up on the scaffolding the police took it very serious and it was when snarl really started up it was a human that did that. We received letters in the post from the police asking us to be vigilant for anyone covered in cat scratchers

Likewise did everyone actually read the reports and see that the pathologist who originally said that 4 cat corpses showed signs of human cutting, recently re-examined them and found evidence he was wrong?

I know someone’s going to say well maybe he’s lying because the Cat Killer is secretly his Scandinavian son but honestly it is far more likely he just made a mistake.

And it’s impressive that people are able to overcome the not insignificant cognitive bias around this. People have massively emotionally invested in this theory. It is hard for human brains to reconfigure such an emotionally charged theory.

Anitagreen I'm so sorry this happened to your cats. A member of my family found one of the cats. It was horrific.

Not sure why "city dwellers" are clueless about foxes

Urban foxes are everywhere > we are super familiar with them! I often get woken up and look out the window to see them playing/ fighting on a small patch of green space with roads and houses all around, outside our house. They are very used to people > when you come across one they often sit casually until nearly close enough to touch and then lope off nonchalantly as if they werent' scared nope just realised had somewhere else to be
They sometimes go through tehe bins and spread rubbish everywhere given half a chance >> bin bags left on the streets will be opened and rubbish strewn everywhere.

The denstiy of foxes is much higher than in the countryside so we are more used to them and them to us.

But yeah for sure people who live in cities are extremely unfamilair with foxes probably when we see a dog we're getting confused

*Likewise did everyone actually read the reports and see that the pathologist who originally said that 4 cat corpses showed signs of human cutting, recently re-examined them and found evidence he was wrong?

I know someone’s going to say well maybe he’s lying because the Cat Killer is secretly his Scandinavian son but honestly it is far more likely he just made a mistake.*

A skilled pathologist missing puncture marks? It is far more likely that there is some psychology behind this statement in an attempt to catch this person.



This is interesting....