At least seven cats were found dead under a deck on 16th Avenue in Bath Beach, Brooklyn this week, several with blood coming from their nose and mouth. More have died since. These weren't nuisance strays — they were a cared-for colony. For years, local caretaker Albert Berto fed them, took them to the vet, got them neutered, and had them microchipped. He says the losses feel personal: "I'm in shock. I've been up for three days," Berto told News 12.

Wildlife rehabilitator Reeva Grammatikopoulos, who helped recover the cats, doesn't believe this was an accident: "That many dead cats at once, they were poisoned on purpose," she told News 12.

The NYPD's Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the ASPCA are now investigating, and the ASPCA's forensics team is examining the cats. But as of this week, no official cause of death has been confirmed and no one has been identified or held responsible.

Poisoning an entire colony of animals is not a prank or a nuisance complaint — it's a deliberate act of violence, and it happened in a residential neighborhood where children and pets live nearby. Caretakers like Albert Berto do the unpaid work of keeping community cat populations healthy and controlled; they deserve a real investigation, not a case that quietly goes cold.

We're calling on the NYPD's Animal Cruelty Investigation Squad and the ASPCA to fully investigate these deaths, determine the cause, and pursue charges against whoever is responsible.

Sign the petition to demand justice for the Bath Beach cats, before whoever did this strikes again.