Phoenix cops recover dead cats from canal

PHOENIX, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- Phoenix authorities are asking the public to help them find out how 20 dead cats wound up in a drainage canal.

The 15 adult cats and five kittens were discovered by a Salt River Project maintenance worker Tuesday.

"We have 20 cats back here, so it appears to have been very methodical," Police Sgt. Trent Crump told the KPHO-TV in Phoenix. "It doesn't appear that this was a random act of finding a cat and getting rid of it."

The Arizona Republic said it would examine the carcasses to determine if the felines drowned or were already dead when they wound up in the canal.

Investigators said the animals appeared to be strays and they suspect someone could have trapped them and then killed them.