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Adrian Walton, a veterinarian at the Dewdney Animal Hospital who has examined some of the Maple Ridge cat bodies for suspicious signs, also cautions the public to wait on the forensic evidence.

“It gets very difficult, and that’s part of the reason why you need to have a specialist,” says Walton. A coyote’s bite can often look like it was made by a tool.

“Coyotes will go to one area, wipe out all the cats they can find, and then they’ll go to another area,” says Walton.

Yet some of the Maple Ridge killings cited by the SPCA do seem to exclude the possibility of natural predators.

“One was found in a trash bag and put onto the owner’s porch,” SPCA spokesperson Lorie Chortyk said last week. Another cat’s parts were found underneath the “lost” poster for that cat.

According to Stephen Porter, a forensic psychologist at UBC, the number of killings done by a human could make a big difference in the psychological profile of the perpetrator.

“The literature shows that most people who engage in animal abuse are male youths who do so once or twice out of curiosity, and do not re-offend, particularly when they are caught and sanctioned for the offence,” Porter said in an email.

“This is different from those who engage in repeated animal abuse. Such individuals are not acting out of curiosity but for a more deep-seated purpose.”

Porter said that repeated animal abuse can sometimes, but not always, lead to violence toward human beings.

For now, Merck encourages Maple Ridge residents to keep a very careful eye on their pets and call in tips to the police — but not to panic.

“I dealt with a case in Texas where everyone was upset, and they believed someone was killing these cats,” Merck says.

“It was scary because they thought they had all been placed on their driveway, on their front porch. And it turned out to all be predator.”

As B.C.’s police officers, SPCA investigators, and animal pathologists — which Merck says are some of the best she’s ever worked with — sort through the evidence, a clearer picture of what’s been happening to Maple Ridge’s cats should emerge.

“The bottom line,” says Merck, “is that we don’t have all the answers yet.”