CREDIT: NICOLE SA
Nicole Sa poses with her dog. Being an avid animal lover, the gruesome animal killings were extremely hard to accept.

There is some alarming and terrible behaviour going on in London.

The London Police Service (LPS) have disclosed that they suspect there may be an animal serial killer in the city after they have made numerous discoveries of tortured, mutilated and murdered animals in various locations around London.

The discoveries, all made in the last year, have seen 17 dead animals involved in eight separate incidences. The discovered animals include a beheaded bunny discovered on the Western campus, six coyotes, two of which were skinned and beheaded, found in various locations and left in questionable poses, a mutilated cat found in a park and ten dead snakes found by a London woman while taking out her trash.

The London Humane Society also discovered a stabbed and partially skinned goose, which had been left at their front door.

According to an article by the CBC, the snakes, discovered by Kate Fowler, had been peculiarly left without any attempt to hide the remains. The scene prompted suspicions that the snakes were left there to purposely cause shock to any passer-by.

No blood was discovered at the scenes of the dead animals, according to the London Humane Society, which helps suggest the animals were killed elsewhere and left by the culprit at the locations they were discovered. According to the London Humane Society, it appears the same weapon was used in each case: a scalpel.

Because of the similarities shared between the incidences, London Police and the Humane Society believe that the cases may all connect back to one individual.

The behaviour brings up a sense of urgency to solve the problem because it displays suggested sociopathic behaviour and the fear is that the crimes will escalate to humans. The incidences have already shown signs of escalation; the killings began with wildlife, and have now moved on to domestic animals.

Michael Arntfield, a criminology professor at Western University, believes that one individual caused all the recent string of crimes. He also has expressed his suspicion that the underlying cause of the crimes is zoosadism.

Zoosadism is described as an individual who finds pleasure or excitement from the cruel treatment of animals, and can have an underlying sexual motive. Zoosadism is one of the traits of the McDonald Triad, which is a study that suggests the three main traits of sociopathic behaviour.

The incidents have left the London Humane Society shocked.

Judy Foster, the executive director for the London Humane Society, has expressed her feelings after seeing the results of the discovered animals.

“We’re doing okay, but I’m not going to downplay it,” Foster said. “I felt physically ill when I saw the dog and the bunny, the cat, the goose, the coyotes... the skinned coyotes we thought were dogs initially.”

London police are taking the matter seriously.

“Unfortunately we don’t have anything to add to what we have already said in relation to the animals,” Sandasha Bough, the news and media officer for the LPS said. “We weren’t made aware of any except two of the cases and an officer has been tasked with looking into the other animal deaths. He is working with the Humane Society to determine if any of the cases are in fact related, and if we have anything further to add, we will put out a release.”

On the morning of Dec. 16, a small dog was found behind a London Beer Store. Nicole Sa, a student at Fanshawe, described the scene when she heard there were skinned dogs discovered at her Adelaide and Lorne Avenue location.

“I was not working the morning when everything happened but I did work that night. From what I was told, someone who was collecting blue boxes came around to see how many boxes we had in the back. She then told my friend, who was working cash, that there was a skinned animal in one of the blue boxes out back. She then told my manager and he proceeded to call the police. The police then called animal control.”

She continued to discuss how the events made her feel describing how the events that transpired disgusted her.

“For me being an avid animal lover, when I heard this was all happening, especially since it was right behind somewhere I work, it killed me. It brought tears to my eyes because I couldn’t believe it.”

Those feelings only got worse when Sa thought of her dog.

“It was always in the back of my mind, thinking it would happen again or if I was serving this person their beer and not even knowing. The worst part was I kept thinking about if someone did this to my dog…that was seriously the worst feeling.”