Reward offered in mutilation of cat in Farmingville, SPCA says

The cat of an Army veteran and his girlfriend was mutilated and disemboweled, then its body placed on top of a cat shelter in the backyard of the owners’ Farmingville home, the Suffolk SPCA said in offering a reward.

“This is blatant torture,” said Roy Gross, head of the Suffolk County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Uma, 13, had never strayed from the house and fenced-in backyard on Martin Place and suddenly went missing Halloween morning, he said.

Then the morning of Nov. 2, her owner saw the feline on top of the Igloo shelter and called and called but the “sweet cat who would walk right up to you” never moved, Gross said.

Uma had been “positioned” to look like she was alive, he said: “It’s stretched out like it’s lying in the sun.”

The SPCA is offering a $2,000 reward for an arrest and conviction in the case and the insurance executive who employs one of Uma’s owners has pledged $5,000 on top of that, Gross said. The animal abuse charge would be a felony that carries up to two years in prison, he said.

The couple is “devastated,” the SPCA head said. They had adopted Uma from an animal rescue group 12 years ago, Gross said. She’s in the insurance industry, he said, and the Army veteran served two tours in Iraq and was awarded the Purple Heart.

SPCA investigators and volunteers plan to pass out flyers in the neighborhood Saturday and try to find any video surveillance of who may have killed the cat.

They fear Uma’s killer or killers may strike again and they note that animal abusers often hurt people.

“You can’t let somebody like this walk the streets. Is this the next serial killer? I don’t know. It’s absolutely possible.”

The SPCA asks anyone with information to call 631-382-7722 and said calls will be kept confidential.