A Brooklyn caretaker is hunting for safe homes for five surviving cats after a suspected poisoner wiped out the rest of his colony with enough rat toxin to kill an elephant.
Albert Berto, who had tended the Bath Beach neighborhood cats for eight years, stepped outside last Tuesday morning to shake the daily breakfast can as usual. Only one of 24 cats came running. Beneath his deck, Berto found the first victims — Mr. Weatherby, Mr. Yellow, the Tiger Twins and three others — all bleeding from their noses, mouths and rectums.
More bodies surfaced throughout the week until Berto and neighbors recovered 18 dead cats and three raccoons. A private vet later examined another kitten rescued from the colony and found it carried staggering levels of poison. Wildlife activist Reeva Grammatikopoulos, who responded to the scene, relayed the toxicology results to Berto.
“There was 800 milligrams of rat poison. The toxicology guy said it would kill an elephant. That’s what was in these cats,” Berto said.
The ASPCA took the first seven bodies for necropsy, with results still pending and expected to take weeks.
Berto and neighbors say they know who targeted the animals — a local resident who openly hated the cats and complained they defecated in his yard. Berto had offered to clean up after the colony himself, but the offer went nowhere.
“They took matters into their own hands. They took the cheap way out. They took the coward’s way out,” Berto said.
The devastation has wrecked Berto’s sleep. “I gotta take NyQuil every night to go to sleep. I’m just constantly dreaming about seeing them pulling those cats out,” he said. His grief runs deeper than exhaustion. “I love those cats. I took them in. I can’t even believe this is happening. The pain they must have suffered. It’s unbelievable,” Berto said.
Only five cats escaped the carnage, and Berto is urgently trying to place them elsewhere. “They’re not safe over here,” he said.
The massacre has galvanized the South Brooklyn neighborhood. A petition pressing the NYPD and ASPCA to pursue charges against whoever is responsible has collected more than 700 signatures. Assemblyman William Colton added political pressure Wednesday with a letter demanding action.
“My fervent hope is that their efforts will lead to the identification of the person or people behind this horrific turn of events, and that the perpetrator or perpetrators will be brought to justice,” Colton wrote.
The NYPD’s Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the ASPCA remain on the case, though no arrests have been made. Under New York state Agriculture and Market Laws, community cats are protected, and poisoning or attempted poisoning qualifies as a misdemeanor carrying up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.