Canada

Photo: The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

Forensic veterinarian Dr. Melinda Merck addresses a news conference at the BCSPCA in Vancouver, Friday, June 15, 2012. Dr. Merck who conducted forensic examinations on some of the 30 mutilated cats found in the lower mainland over the past few months determined that they were killed by predators and not by humans. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

An internationally known vet has concluded a spate of horrific cat mutilations in the Vancouver area appears to be the work of an animal, not a human.

Dr. Melinda Merck, who worked on a similar case in Florida, says her necropsies have determined the gruesome deaths were not likely caused by a person.

Merck says she did necropsies on 30 animals found in recent weeks, 20 of them cats, and couldn't determine conclusively what killed them.

Marcie Moriarty, in charge of cruelty investigations for the B.C. SPCA, says pathology reports over the past year indicated that the cats had been severed using a sharp instrument, prompting concerns the attacker was human.

But Merck, who also helped out in the investigation into the slayings of sled dogs in Whistler, says injuries caused by predators can look very similar to an attack with a sharp instrument because the tears are precise.

But she says other things, such as the angle of the tears and fur under the cats' claws, indicate predators.