Dead Cat Found Strapped to Cross

In the latest in a series of feline mutilations, police are investigating the death of a black cat strapped to a wooden cross on the lawn of a house on Kings Place, overlooking Newport Harbor.

Sgt. Andy Gonis, a police spokesman, said Tuesday that a detective has been assigned to the case and that Orange County Animal Control officials will perform a necropsy to determine how the cat was killed. The procedure should take about a week.

The two-foot-tall cross was found stuck in the lawn Saturday night by a resident of the home, which is above West Coast Highway and Dover Drive. Gonis said that police do not know who owned the cat and that no similar incidents have been reported in Newport Beach.

“There were no obvious signs of death,” Gonis said.

In another incident, police said Tuesday that a janitor at Greentree Elementary School in Irvine found a cat’s head near a lawn sprinkler on campus about 2:40 p.m. Monday. Animal Control Officer Duncan Gill, who recovered the severed head, concluded that coyotes were probably responsible.

“It had all the signs of a coyote attack,” said Lt. Mike White, an Irvine police spokesman.

Foul play is not suspected, he said, so “we are doing nothing with it.”

In Tustin, residents have become alarmed by at least 67 cat killings since last winter. County and federal officials have investigated and say the animals were attacked by coyotes.

But members of Tustin Residents Against Animal Killers insist that many of the cats were deliberately killed by people, possibly gang members or Satan worshipers.

“It is hard to believe that a coyote was involved in the Newport Beach cat death,” said Janet Hampson, a leader of the group. “A lot of gangs dabbling in Satanism or ritual sacrifices of some kind are killing these animals.”

Her group is offering a $1,600 reward for information leading to the conviction of people involved in cat deaths and has formed a citizen action group to patrol areas where the dead animals have been found.