Police investigate the playground of an elementary school in the city of Saitama, near Tokyo, where the body of a cat was found in late February.
Warning:
This story contains depictions of violence that some readers may find distressing.
(CNN)
The first grim find occurred when a woman found the severed head and paws of a brown-spotted cat while walking along the banks of the Arakawa River in the city of Saitama, Japan.
Days later, what police believe was the rest of the cat's body washed up on the grounds of an elementary school.
In 10 days, at the end of February, people in the city had discovered two more mutilated cat bodies, one in a field and one on the side of a small town road.
These gruesome acts may not have involved human casualties.
Yet they have left this city in the Tokyo metropolitan area on edge.
In fact, local schools are asking teachers to walk children home and advising them to walk in large groups, and police have also stepped up patrols, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
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These findings have stirred uneasy memories in Saitama, which in recent years has jailed a cat killer who tortured various animals and posted videos of his actions online.
It has also brought to mind the child murders in the city of Kobe in the 1990s, when a 14-year-old boy with a history of committing acts of animal cruelty killed two boys, ages 10 and 11, and injured others. three.
The murders also come at an unnerving time for area schools.
Earlier this week, a student stabbed a teacher at a secondary school in Toda, prompting an evacuation.
A Saitama police spokesperson told CNN they have opened animal cruelty investigations and are looking to see if the various cat murders are related to each other.
In Japan, killing or injuring animals is a crime that carries prison terms of up to five years or fines of around 5 million yen ($36,600).
A woman in her 80s told NHK she felt "scared and uncomfortable" hearing the news about the cat murders, but the concerns go beyond those raised by animal welfare.
In the wake of the murders, a number of experts have warned that, in some minds, cruelty to animals may represent a gateway to even more heinous crimes.
"Normally, criminal acts and cruelty are hidden, but daring to show it can be a form of self-expression," Kenji Omata, a psychology professor at Surugadai University, told NHK.
Omata referred to both the previous cat killer case in Saitama Prefecture and noted that "there was also animal abuse in the Kobe city serial murder case of children."
“I am very concerned about how long similar incidents will continue and whether people will be affected,” Omata said.
Kim J. McCoy, a lawyer who founded the Hong Kong Animal Law and Protection Organization, warned that some cases of animal cruelty "evolved into more serious offenses against humans."
“There is empirical evidence supporting a direct correlation between those who commit animal abuse and those who commit other, more violent crimes against people,” McCoy said.
Even when the violence is limited to animals, action is still needed, McCoy added.
"Animals are vulnerable," McCoy said.
“They deserve and require adequate protection from harm.”
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