The curious case of the Croydon cat-killer: producing predators in the multi-species metropolis

Abstract

From September 2015, the deaths of hundreds of pet cats in Croydon, London and the UK have been attributed to the actions of one or more killers. In September 2018, the police operation to catch the ‘Croydon cat killer’ was called off, with the deaths attributed to the actions of cars and foxes. This paper considers what the case says about our relations with other animals in the city, why we accept some animal deaths as normal, and others unnatural forms of violence. We focus on the concept of ‘predation’ in media representations, and how predation may mean different things to different audiences. The paper looks at the logic, optics, and politics of predation in turn, meaning the analytical premises, the framing devices that make these narratives visible, and the broader political positions taken by protagonists. The role of the media in promulgating these narratives of predation is central to what we term ‘fabulous ecologies’, speculating that nonhuman animals inhabit a cultural as well as a physical environment. Narratives of animal killers and animal victims have the potential to make the metropolis more, or less, viable to our nonhuman animal neighbours.