Reward Jumps To $23K In Killings of 25 Cats In Yonkers
YONKERS, N.Y. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Five animal welfare groups have added a total of $22,500 to the reward for capturing whoever killed 25 cats in Yonkers.
Rewards of $5,000 each were announced Tuesday by the Animal Legal Defense Fund, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the United States and the ASPCA. The Defense of Animals Fund added $2,500.
The organization Alley Cat Allies had previously posted a $750 reward.
The cats were found Thursday in plastic bags hanging from trees in a wooded area off Overlook Terrace. Tests on three bodies showed they had been killed with blows to the head. Some cats had been dead about a year, some just three days.
"Pretty disturbing, smashing their heads in and displaying them like that," said Ernest Lungaro, director of enforcement at the Westchester County SPCA. "We have found, in the past, cases where cats were poisoned, but we've never seen anything where they're killing them this violently."
There had been no arrests as of Tuesday afternoon. The Westchester County SPCA expressed gratitude for the reward offers.
It 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.
Anyone with information is asked to call Yonkers police at 914-377-7724 or the SPCA's Animal Cruelty Hotline at 914-941-7797.
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