25 dead cats in bags found hanging from tree branches in N.Y. woods

What a grisly scene.

About 25 dead cats were found in plastic bags hanging from tree branches in the woods in Yonkers, N.Y., the Journal News reports. The bags were neatly tied around the branches.

City sanitation workers performing their annual cleanup of the woods discovered the bags. Police responded Thursday.

"It's something very odd," Ernest Lungaro, director of the SPCA of Westchester's Humane Law Enforcement Division, told the Journal News. "It's a lot of cats to be disposed of in a year."

Each bag appeared to have one cat inside, which varied in age and stage of decomposition. Wildlife appeared to have ripped open five or so bags, spilling the dead cats out, Lungaro said.

Most of the cats seemed to have been dead before being put into the bags, Lungaro told the Journal News.

Officials said it was too early to say whether someone killed the cats or was just disposing of their bodies. Animal autopsies are planned, according to the Journal News.

Officials are still working to determine whether all of the dead cats were feral. Given the sanitation schedule, the cats were hung in the woods within the past year.

There was no evidence the animals were used in any rituals, Lt. Patrick McCormack told the Journal News.

Anyone with information is asked to call detectives at 914-377-7724 or the SPCA's Animal Cruelty Hotline at 914-941-7797.