$10,000 reward linked to cat deaths

PHILADELPHIA - April 1, 2008 Samuel Diaz discovered four of the tortured cats behind his property on a street lined with garages yesterday afternoon.

"It's not right," Diaz said.

Diaz alerted the SPCA and agents came right out.

"They had found three cats horrifically beaten, laying the sidewalk and they were bleeding," Heather Redfern of the PSPCA said.

Animal cruelty investigators returned to the neighborhood today and found another tortured cat on the same sidewalk on the same block.

They knocked on the door of block captain, Elaine Rash, hoping she could help find the serial cat killer.

"They came to me see if I knew anything. I said I had no idea. They showed me the pictures and I could not believe the pictures," Rash said.

The SPCA wants to find the person or people responsible for this horrific act of animal cruelty.

"This is very serious. The cats were just tortured to death," Redfern said.

The Pennsylvania SPCA is offering a $10,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of those behind these acts of animal cruelty.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Animal Cruelty Hotline at 1-866-601-SPCA (7722).