06/10/2008

String of Brutal Rabbit Murders Haunts Germany

By Charles Hawley

A disgusting spree of brutal killings continues to haunt Dortmund. Over 40 pet rabbits have been killed, with many bled dry and decapitated. So far, police are clueless.

A disgusting spree of brutal killings continues to haunt Dortmund. Over 40 pet rabbits have been killed, with many bled dry and decapitated. So far, police are clueless.

Fussel was just three years old when he met his horrifying fate. The pet rabbit was jerked out of his cage in the western German Ruhr Valley along with his sister Marianne. Both were decapitated and bled dry. Their lifeless bodies were left behind for their distraught owners to discover the next morning.

That was last Christmas. Since then, such cases have become almost a weekly occurrence in the city of Dortmund and its surroundings. Police have recorded 22 cases, almost all involving rabbits and most of them following the same, brutal pattern. Over 40 animals have died in the crime spree.

The most recent bunny murder was committed in the city late on Sunday night: One rabbit disappeared completely, while a second was left behind -- without its head.

[...]

Speculation in the local press has been rampant since the crime spree began, with many conjecturing that Satanism or occultism may be at work. Sabine Riede, who runs a group devoted to monitoring religious sects in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told the paper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung that "there is a possibility that young Satanists could be involved." The fact that the blood is apparently drained from many of the rabbits could indicate, she said, that Satanists are gathering material for a ritual.

According to Schütte, police are not, for the moment, discounting any theory. A €2,500 ($3,860) reward has been put up by rabbit owners and animal rights groups for information leading to the killer's capture.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,558859,00.html