PANAMA CITY BEACH — A scuba diver with the Bay County Sheriff’s Office spent Monday afternoon searching a golf course water hazard after receiving another report of a mutilated cat found in the road in the upscale Bay Point neighborhood.
It was the second mutilated cat reported to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office to date, and although investigators are unsure if they are related, neighbors have reported to Bay Point’s private security several incidents involving animals in the neighborhood, according to a deputy’s report.
One person reported seeing someone stop a vehicle alongside a water hazard on a golf course in the neighborhood and toss a bag into the water, so a deputy donned scuba gear and spent a couple hours Monday searching the pond before calling it off around 3 p.m. Investigator Albert Willis said the search was conducted to “cover all our bases.” No evidence was found.
Deputies took custody of the cat’s corpse Monday. One reason investigators have not been able to determine how Skeeter, a cat found dead and mutilated in a Bay Point road Sept. 1, met his demise is they didn’t see the remains. Like Skeeter, the cat found dead Monday morning was only partially recovered, and authorities don’t know whether the animals are being killed by human or animal predators.
Investigators have been in contact with an expert who might be able to answer what killed the cat once an examination of the remains has been performed. Two veterinarians who saw photographs of Skeeter’s remains said they believed he might have been killed by a fox, but they wouldn’t make an official determination without first examining the remains, BCSO spokeswoman Ruth Corley said last week.
Several neighbors have said they believe a person is responsible for the deaths of several house cats.
The deputy who responded to Bay Point on Monday morning reported finding little blood.
“It looked like the animal was killed in another location and placed in the road,” the deputy wrote.
The deputy talked to a homeowner, who said he hadn’t heard or seen anything unusual, but it wasn’t the first time a dead cat had been left in the road in front of house.
Skeeter, the house cat reported dead last week, was recovered in two different locations on separate days. The cat recovered Monday was found in a different location than either portions of Skeeter.