Animal fixation: Neighbour Steven Smith saw Wilmert starring at his dog and urged Wilmert to stop but he shrugged the incident off
I'm not sure about that. Serial Killers indulge in animal cruelty generally for cruelty's sake; as twisted as it sounds this guy sounded like he was hungry. While it's true that Serial Killer types will eat victims or their parts, that's usually some totemic expression of power over the victim or some kind of trophy savoring a la Dahmer.
The way this is written at least, this guy sees cats as just another breed of small game.
I'm not particularly defending him, mind you, and while I'd agree he's certainly, "not right," I'm not sure he'd be inclined to eat or kill a person.
However, as others have pointed out, it seems that the guy wasn't killing the cats humanely. Perhaps, he was getting off on the pain and suffering.
Also, it doesn't appear that he had any way of knowing whether his victims were feral cats, or someone’s beloved pet. According to my extensive research into serial killers (i.e. watching TV cop shows); serial killers are sociopaths, with no ability to empathize with their victims. Normal people understand that pet owners can have a strong emotional bond with their pets. Anyone capable of empathy can empathize with that emotional attachment, and wouldn't hurt a pet because they wouldn't want to hurt the owner emotionally.
Do any of us know if we’ve ever eaten cat im our lifetime. Ponder that for a few seconds...
It is very hard to slice a live cat down the spine. They tend to wiggle.
If he was killing them with a quick blow to the head or by driving the knife into the brain then perhaps you are right.
Still kind of strange and rather risky. Cats, especially stray cats, carry all sorts of diseases that can be rather nasty.
If you read how he was killing them, and can’t see that as animal cruelty and getting off on their reaction to deliberate pain, I feel for ya.
Animal fixation: Neighbour Steven Smith saw Wilmert starring at his dog and urged Wilmert to stop but he shrugged the incident off