A group of residents in the Bee Cave Woods neighborhood are urging their neighbors to keep their pets indoors after 10 cats have gone missing or turned up dead in recent months.

“What we’re trying to do is get the word out so people keep their pets inside,” said Misty Glen resident and environmental lawyer Pat Braddock. “We also wanted people to be aware of what was going on in the neighborhood.”

Earlier this summer, Braddock found a dismembered cat on her lawn, and a few weeks ago her own cat, Hercules, disappeared. When asking around the neighborhood to see if neighbors had spotted them, she found that many neighbors were also missing their animals.

“An e-mail went out, and we started getting back information that other people were finding dead or mutilated cats or that their cats were missing,” she said.

Braddock and several other residents whose cats had been lost or killed formed a committee to investigate what had been happening in the neighborhood and get the word out to residents to keep their cats indoors.

When residents initially began finding the dead cats, they disposed of them, which means that the police have no evidence.

“I don’t have any proof one way or another whether its coyotes or somebody,” investigating police officer Karen Duncan said.

Duncan said she believed it was most likely due to wildlife in the area and that she’d never investigated a similar case where a person had been to blame.

“Be vigilant and watch and keep your animals up,” she said. “Letting your cat outside is always a risk; if they don’t want something to happen, keep them inside.”

Resident looking for a missing cat should contact Braddock at pbraddock@fulbright.com.