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?

Nobody’s saying that foxes are killing cats. As you say, it seems very unlikely a fox would go for a live, healthy cat. What they’re saying is that foxes are predating on already dead or dying cats, who have (mostly) been hit by cars.

And FFS linking this to Luka Magnotta and saying the police won't care if the so-called killer graduates to humans? Cop on to yourselves.

There's absolutely no chance that this isnt the work of humans. Ok some dead cats will have been predated on by foxes. SNARL are a bit bonkers, as are many of their "cat lady" followers, but even local vets that have dealt with some of the cats are now saying that it's nonsense. The cats involved were killed with sharp knives. Vets can tell the difference between bones being knawed and clean cuts.

Oh and the police profiler they bought in said that the person is likely to graduate to killing humans. You obviously dont live in the area, but its a very big deal round here ans nobody is buying the "it was foxes wot dun it" argument, for many reasons.

I don’t currently live in the area, no, but I did for many years until 2017. I don’t remember this hysteria. The Guardian sent a reporter to George Street in Croydon yesterday and found most people either weren’t interested or accepted the car accident + fox theory.

I can see how SNARL has so much invested in this that it’s hard for them to back down. I can also just about imagine how it might be easier to believe that a beloved pet was murdered by human choice than that there was a tragic, meaningless accident and predation.

But the accident + fox theory fits the facts as we have them (DNA, past fox behaviour, CCTV, past similar moral panics...).

I always thought it was odd that the alleged psychopath had never once been caught on CCTV or in a firm sighting, despite allegedly killing hundreds of animals across the South East.

The SNARL statement doesn't even make sense. It starts "why isn't this happening all over" and then, um, goes on to list incidents from a wide geographical area. And the Haribo bags? Honestly, I don't believe it for a second. This isn't CSI: Croydon, real serial killers rarely leave calling cards like that. I want to see some proper sources before I'll believe it, and I haven't seen any yet.

It almost seems like people are disappointed by this news, which is a bit weird. Like, people want there to be a cat-killing lunatic stalking the streets. Though I can see from lots of posts on this thread that people will continue to believe whatever they want regardless of what the evidence shows.

Thats the wrong area. Most of the cases have been centered around S Croydon/Caterham. Most people there are extremely sceptical about it being down to hysteria and foxes. As are the local vets.

Im sure foxes have interfered with dead cats but there's no way that one cat a day is killed by a car, nobody mentions that (unlike times when people do occasionally post on local FB sites that they have unfortunately hit a cat), a fox moves the body and puts it back in the owners garden each and every time. Its just not credible. There are 100s of foxes round here, they are almost tame now (and tbh the population is getting out of control) but they dont seem to be a threat to cats and are generally well fed from scavenging. 3 cases where cctv showed fox interference seems credible, but at one point people were reporting cats killed on a daily basis. That wasnt hapenning when we first moved into the area.

And no-one has ever come forward to say "My weirdo BIL keeps going out at night with a headlamp and sack and coming home covered in scratches four times a week"...

Discarded Haribo bags are hardly unique signifiers that can only be the work of one person are they? If the cats had been found near origami unicorns I’d be more convinced.

So the Croydon cat killer also kills rabbits in Watford? Righty ho then.

Calpop you say that but as a PP pointed out overleaf, it was the royal veterinary college working with the police who came to the conclusion to was a fox

I’d take the royal vetinary college over the local vets on stretham high street, wouldn’t you?

It’s the rabbits that make me think the police are right too. Far from a serial killer starting on humans, he de escalated to the pretty much the lowest mammal in the food chain, and travelled 60 miles to do it. It doesn’t make sense

And no-one has ever come forward to say "My weirdo BIL keeps going out at night with a headlamp and sack and coming home covered in scratches four times a week"...

Don't forget there was a £10,000 reward as well. That'd be a motivator..

a fox moves the body and puts it back in the owners garden each and every time. Its just not credible.

A mortally wounded cat creeps back to its own garden to die.

There are 100s of foxes round here, they are almost tame now (and tbh the population is getting out of control) but they dont seem to be a threat to cats and are generally well fed from scavenging.

But that’s exactly the point! Foxes aren’t a threat to cats; they are scavenging dead ones!

Do those opposed to the fox theory actually read what it is? For the twentieth time in this thread, nobody is arguing that marauding foxes are murdering healthy cats. They’re saying that foxes are scavenging dead cats who have been killed in accidents. You know, as scavengers do.

I also believe that CSI type TV is partly responsible for the conspiracy theories. People want it to be a neat narrative with a psychopath who can be caught and interviewed. Real life is rarely like that.

Turns out he's had a jaunt to Portsmouth too: www.portsmouth.co.uk/our-region/portsmouth/these-are-all-the-animal-deaths-linked-to-infamous-croydon-cat-killer-in-the-portsmouth-area-1-8619195

Anyone else familiar with the Smiley Face killer / Manchester Pusher? Same thing.

Ain't letting my indoor cat out any time soon.
She has plenty of opportunities in the house to express cat behaviour- hunt catch kill eat groom sleep.
She can roost from a high spot. She can hide. She can scratch/scent mark.

I was brought up on a farm and foxes predated on the farm cats. Most of the time, the cats simply disappeared, but my brother and father witnessed a fox sneaking into the farmyard and grabbing a cat on more than one occasion (usually when they could not get the hens). We also saw the occasional cat bone in our wood. We knew when a fox was about because the cats would climb up the haystack, or any other high place where they might be safe.

However, I think the scavenger theory here is more correct. When the foxes caught a cat, they would sneak off with it (to feed cubs, I assume). Scavenging in a much messier business.

www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/police-caught-croydon-cat-killer-1021124

www.theargus.co.uk/news/16395741.animal-killer-warning-after-family-cat-found-mutilated-in-park/

And Bristol and Northampton. Portslade, Brighton, Uckfield, Saltdean...

metro.co.uk/2018/06/20/decapitated-cat-school-playground-400th-victim-croydon-cat-killer-7647148/

At least one a day in many different areas here according to SNARL..

metro.co.uk/2018/06/20/decapitated-cat-school-playground-400th-victim-croydon-cat-killer-7647148/

www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/cat-killer-thought-to-have-killed-400-small-animals-in-bid-to-horrify-humans-1-8933886

And Manchester, Sheffield and Birmingham. Here SNARL say the killer hangs around to see the horrified owners reactions. But has never been seen...

I think SNARL have watched a few too many channel 5 documentaries.

I don't get why a fox would leave a dead body and not take the carcass to feed their pups.

Blimey he gets about doesn't he! So we're looking for a crazed cat killer with no social network, a lotof time on his hands and the disposable income to travel regularly from one end of the country to the other, just to kill a cat.

Or some road accidents, foxes, and possibly the occasional disgruntled neighbour fed up with cats shitting in his garden.

My goodness, he was a busy psychopath!

Or copy cats. Pardon the expression. Plenty of fucking twats around.

I don't get why a fox would leave a dead body and not take the carcass to feed their pups.

This was explained upthread. Foxes are ‘cache predators’; they often remove parts of the carcass and leave the rest to return to later.

Foxes also don’t have pups all year round.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/croydon-cat-killer-foxes-real-culprit-met-police-mystery-solved-m25-snarl-boudicca-rising-animal-a8547586.html

Above is a good article. Cases on the Isle of Wight apparently too..

It really looks like just 2 people (SNARL) whipped themselves; and then an entire nation into a frenzy.