Toronto neighbourhood fears teen who tortures small animals has turned to pets

Published Aug 29, 2024  •  Last updated 6 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Residents of a Toronto neighbourhood are concerned that a teenage boy with a penchant for torturing small animals has escalated to doing the same to cats. Photo by Getty Images

Residents of a Toronto neighbourhood are concerned that a teenage boy with a penchant for torturing small animals has escalated to doing the same to cats.

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A PSA on Reddit’s Toronto board by user Marmar 79 warned, “If you live in Riverdale and have an outdoor cat, keep them inside.”

The post went on to detail: “There is a 16-year-old who lives on Withrow [Ave.] that was caught torturing a raccoon. He was arrested and released the same day.”

However, it appeared to not have stopped there.

“Another raccoon was found dead, pelts were found on his property,” the post continued.

“Two neighbours’ cats went missing earlier this week,” the Redditor explained. “The tracking collar of one cat was found on a garage roof yesterday and the cat was found dead under the shed in the kid’s backyard this evening.”

The post said that police officers were “combing the area” but “this kid has been terrorizing small animals in the area for at least one week. And he is free.”

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A spokesperson for Toronto Police confirmed that “a 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged in relation to this incident,” however she could not provide further details of additional complaints or investigations.

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Other commenters noted dead raccoons they had seen in the area and wondered if any of them were related to the boy.

One user said they were on Logan Ave. between McConnell and Danforth Aves. where they “saw a skinned animal decomposing in a trash bag on the sidewalk, like someone had just dumped it there.”

They added: “It was disturbing, with the trash bag partly covering its exposed guts through what looked like an incision.”

Others began likening the situation to the Netflix documentary Don’t F*** With Cats, about amateur sleuths who helped track down infamous killer Luka Magnotta after he gained international notoriety in 2010 for sharing a video online of himself suffocating two kittens.

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“Isn’t this behaviour a telltale classic precursor to becoming a serial killer?,” one person asked. “Something about a completely detached sense of empathy? I hope this kid’s parents help him now while he’s still young.”

Another noted: “This is definitely a budding psychopath. He needs to be removed from the home and placed in an appropriate treatment facility. I’d keep both pets and young children inside or under direct supervision, doors and windows locked.”

A third person remarked, “Jesus Christ… that’s how Jeffrey Dahmer started.”

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