WILLIAMSBURG — A cat was allegedly killed and draped over a soccer field goal post on the Williamsburg waterfront last week, said residents, prompting an ASPCA investigation.
The dead feline, which resident Maja Janko discovered in Bushwick Inlet Park early last Tuesday morning, was draped over the crossbar of the goal "with the tail hanging down toward" her by the East River, she said.
"That is what was so creepy. This is not someone who just killed the cat and left it," said Janko, who found the cat while walking her dog at 6:45 a.m. "They were methodical and then hung it in a centered place. Serial killer stuff in my opinion."
The ASPCA, which Janko emailed after filing a 311 complaint, is investigating the incident, said spokesman Bret Hopman, who declined to comment further on the open investigation. It is unknown how the cat died.
Janko, who described the black-and-white creature as "flat" looking and potentially burned, said her dog "ran towards the goal post and was running in circles around the area sniffing the astroturf" near the carcass.
"My guess is the cat was killed there and then hung up," she speculated. "It is so sinister that someone would come into the park late at night and do something like that. It was really creepy."
The animal's death came just days before warning signs against poisoning cats were spotted several blocks away on Manhattan Avenue.
"Poisoning cats in New York State is a felony. $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for poisoning cats in this neighborhood," read the fliers, posted on the fence of a lot near Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint.
The fliers are accessible to residents citywide through feral cat advocacy group Neighborhood Cats, which offers rewards to anyone with information about feline killings.
"In many cases if someone is harming animals and they notice the signs, they notice the neighborhood is watching them...they stop," explained Neighborhood Cats leader Susan Richmond of the signs, available on her group's website.
"There are people in every neighborhood with a bad intent to hurt animals."
It was unknown whether the animal found at Bushwick Inlet Park was feral, but advocates said they are more often targeted than domestic felines since they reside in empty lots or other public spots that might annoy residents.
"People sometimes are angry...they don't want cats there, and they don't listen to the fact that 'Trap Neuter Return' works," said Richmond of the practice to control feral cat populations. "Some people just don't like animals."
North Brooklyn residents in particular have expressed concern over threatened feral cat communities in lots where developers are beginning to knock down buildings and to construct high-rises.
Neighbors have spoken up over the demolition of the former arts collective "Monster Island" this winter and the plan for high-rises in Greenpoint as potential threats to cat colonies. But Hopman said there were "no trends to speak of" of targeting cats more than usual in the area.
"Whoever did this was obviously depraved," Richmond said.
