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June 25, 2020 - 12:01 PM
One of two dead cats that have been taken to the B.C. SPCA in Kelowna will be sent away for a necropsy examination, likely today.
That exam, which is similar to an autopsy in a human, will be done in the B.C. SPCA lab in Abbotsford but the society can’t say when results might be released.
The body of one of the cats was “unacceptable” for transport, Brian Kijowski, the SPCA’s regional manager for cruelty investigations in Kelowna, told iNFOnews.ca today, June 25.
“It was too mulched up and the way it was packaged we could not preserve it or send it away,” he said.
There have been five complaints received by the B.C. SPCA in Kelowna about mutilated cats but only two bodies have been taken to shelter.
The body of the cat that is being shipped to Abbotsford for the necropsy had a severed body.
Reports on social media indicate it was a clean cut so speculation is rampant that it was killed by a human but Kijowski would not speculate on the cause of death.
READ MORE: Dead cats in Kelowna likely fell victim to predators: SPCA
“From what I understand it really has to be investigated and examined by a surgeon,” he said. “When you see a cut from a layman’s eyes, it would look like it could be cut, whereas once a surgeon looks at it he would be able to determine if it was a predator or a human.”
Kijowski said that even if he had seen the body, he would have been able to see if there were, for example, puncture wounds but could not say what may have cut the animal in half.
“Before I can say whether it’s a predator or a human, I’m leaning towards a predator because it’s that time of year,” he said. “An examination has to be done on the carcass.”
Wildlife expert Pete Wise with Wise Wildlife Control Services said part of his job is to examine wildlife kills.
He said both coyotes and racoons do make slashing motions when they attack another animal but without more evidence, he would not speculate on how this cat managed to get severed.
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