Pinehurst Police are stepping up patrols in the Village Acres community. Residents in the close-knit community off Highway 211 say they do not know is who is killing their cats.
"Someone is throwing balls of meat laced with something into the yards and killing the cats," said Maureen Burke-Horansky with Animal Advocates of Moore County
"In the short amount of time that this has happened it has alerted everybody something is up. This is not just some couple of lost cats or a few dead cats," added Barbara Shephard with Animal Advocates of Moore County.
Currently, 43 cats have died during the past 30 days.
One of the lucky survivors, Little Man, was saved before he had a chance to ingest the poison. But other cats who lived nearby weren't so lucky.
"It so affects the liver and kidneys until it can go either way were you're not wanting to cut that animal's life short... but at the same time you're not wanting it to suffer. And the last one we just lost, they thought it would be fine and I ended up bringing it back and it died in my arms," Shephard said.
Thursday, three more cats were found dead in Village Acres. The poisonings are not only emotional for pet owners, it is also expensive.
"It can run has high as $700 to $1200 to save a cat. And only two people so far has saved cats," Horansky said.
Animal advocates are asking pet owners to keep their cats inside until authorities can figure out who's responsible for the poisonings.
