ALBANY — A dead cat was found hung from a South End tree branch Thursday evening, police said.

Police were called to the overgrown lot outside a vacant building at 13 Trinity Place around 6 p.m. by an employee of the neighboring Trinity Alliance, who reported that several children playing outside had spotted the dead animal hanging from a tree, said James Miller, a police department spokesman.

An animal control officer found the animal dangling from a rope with one end tied around its neck and the other wrapped around a tree branch about eight feet off the ground, Miller said.

Based on the level of decomposition and recent warm weather, the cat appears to have been there for several days, but police said they could not determine whether it was dead prior to being strung up.

Firefighters removed the animal — a full-grown, domestic cat — from the tree.

Miller said the animal control officer could not determine whether it was a male or female.