A string of gruesome cat killings has this Japanese city on edge

The first grim discovery came when a woman found the severed head and paws of a brown speckled cat as she walked along the banks of the Arakawa River in Saitama City, Japan. Days later, what police believe was the rest of the body turned up on the grounds of an elementary school.

Within 10 days, by the end of February, members of the public had discovered two more mutilated cat carcasses, one in a field and another on the side of a small town road.

These gruesome acts may not have involved human victims, but they have nevertheless left this city in the Greater Tokyo area on edge.

Local schools are asking teachers to escort children home and advising them to walk in large groups; police have stepped up patrols, according to Japan’s public broadcaster NHK.

The killings have stirred uncomfortable memories in Saitama, which in recent years jailed a cat killer who tortured several animals and posted videos of his actions online. They have also raised the specter of the Kobe City child murders of the 1990s, when a 14-year-old boy with a history of committing acts of animal cruelty killed two children, ages 10 and 11, and injured three others.

The killings also come at a disconcerting time for schools in the area. Earlier this week, a teacher at a junior high school in Toda was reportedly stabbed by a student, sparking an evacuation.