By STEPHANIE TSOFLIAS (PIX11) Staff Reporter WPIX-LTV

12:36 p.m. AKDT, September 1, 2012
QUEENS, N.Y.(PIX11)—
Stray cats have been turning up dead, baffling an Elmhurst man, who's been caring for them for years.

"There used to be 12 or 13, now there are nine sometimes three," according to David Taylor, Vice President of Yoga Gupta Ashram.

The feline caretaker has turned his backyard on 51st Avenue into a playground. But, he says a few weeks ago, it went from backyard to graveyard when dead cats began showing up -- some at his front door.

"They are dead they are stiff when we find them, and we find them in unusual places," Taylor explained.

Taylor and others on the block are sad and upset about the deaths and believe the cats are being poisoned. "We suspect these animals are killed, slaughtered or poisoned," adding they've called 311 and the police.

But every time they report what's been going on, they're asked for evidence. Taylor points out that it is too expensive to install surveillance cameras. Meanwhile, bits of chicken turned up Thursday night by the cats' food bowls -- and caretakers didn't put them there.

PIX11 cameras were rolling Friday when Mary Sahota -- Taylor's friend -- found a crippled cat, with lesions on its mouth; it could barely walk. "These cats are sick. They were healthy before. Most were healthy yesterday," said Taylor.

A formal report was filed Friday. An autopsy has been scheduled on the latest casualty.

Edited By Michelle Robinson