Woodlawn Meets Fallujah

Take care of these animals now before they become mass murderers:

Their colony in the Bronx already is devastated by so many ills: homelessness, hunger and rampant disease. Their young are often left to fend for themselves in the streets or in abandoned houses, where many will die a lonesome death.

And now they’re being beaten, burned and mutilated, residents say.

With so much already against them, it seems even harder out there than usual for the feral cats of Woodlawn.

The first report surfaced late last month. Karen Borsotti said she was walking along Vireo Avenue near East 233rd Street when she noticed a gray cat skulking by the road. It had a large gash across its back and seemed a bit haggard, she said. Ms. Borsotti stepped closer to get a better look, but the cat darted off. Later, she said, she saw signs posted on utility poles offering a $500 reward for anyone with information on the person or people responsible for what some say is serial cat abuse.

A couple days later, Animal Nation, a nonprofit rescue group, reported receiving a frantic call from a teenage girl pleading for help. She had found a 6-month-old brown tabby she knew from the neighborhood. It had been badly beaten and its tail was burned to the bone. A veterinarian later said that most of the cat’s teeth had been broken or knocked out, that it had suffered major head trauma and burns to its gums, likely sustained when it tried to bite out the flames on its tail. The young tabby was euthanized.