Residents Finally Learn why Their Cats Kept Vanishing One One

In a suburban neighborhood outside a mid-sized city, cat owners spent months wondering what had become of their pets. Animals that had always returned after a night outside stopped showing up, and the losses added up fast. By early spring 2015 more than a dozen households were short one cat, sometimes two.

People compared notes at the local park and on neighborhood message boards. Most assumed the usual dangers, traffic or roaming dogs, until they noticed the disappearances followed no clear pattern except that they kept happening. Frustration grew, and a few residents decided to find out what was actually taking the animals.

They borrowed trail cameras from a hunting supply store and placed them along fences and under bushes where cats liked to prowl. The first clear images appeared after only a couple of nights. A middle-aged man who lived two blocks away was seen setting live traps, checking them at dawn, and loading the cats into his van.

When confronted, the man admitted he had been removing what he called “nuisance animals” because he believed the cats were wiping out songbirds in his yard. He had no permit and had not told anyone what he was doing. Police took the traps and the remaining cats were returned to their owners over the following days.

Neighbors said they were relieved to have an answer but angry that one person had decided the solution on his own. Several households moved their surviving pets indoors, and a few began talking about putting up signs warning others about the traps. The man faced a court date later that month on animal-related charges.