“He was unrecognizable,” said one distraught dog owner. “You couldn’t tell that what was left of him was a dog.” In a two year period from 1975 to 1976, up to 50 dog owners in the Casas Adobes area discovered their pets dead, with broken necks and partially eaten entrails. Witnesses described the killer as a big, black cat.

Several animal experts were called, including one from Game and Fish and one from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. They theorized it was a jaguar or possibly an escaped African leopard. It was not a mountain lion. Since they had not never arrived at the scene soon enough after a kill, they were not able to use tracking dogs.

Pet owners were advised to keep their animals inside.

The Game and Fish Department said the animal was not posing a threat to public safety and there was little they could do until they could track the animal. “If it’s not a (mountain) lion, it would be immediately noticeable to the handler.”

But, that did not allay the concerns of residents in the area bordered by Ina, Orange Grove, Oracle roads and Interstate 10. Fear for their children mounted as the killings went on.

The danger may have been even greater for those living in the area and not because of the cat. Reportedly, residents had formed a vigilante group to patrol for the animal. They were armed with CB radios and shotguns. The group was warned that if the animal was a jaguar or leopard it was a protected animal.

One good print of a large cat had been found and identified. But, when a federal wild animal trapper was called in, he was unsuccessful in finding anything significant. Well, he did spot some big tracks that lead him to two Great Danes. And, there was a print sighting, reported by a homeowner, that turned out to be half of a barefoot human footprint.

No jaguars were located.

By late October 1976, Game and Fish called off their search. After three lion hunters and the federal trapper reported nothing, they concluded there was no big, black cat. “We believe what is killing most of the dogs is either a large pet dog or a pack of feral dogs. … As far as we are concerned, the case is closed.”

And, the killings apparently stopped.