OSHAWA, Ontario, Nov. 28 -- Canadian police in a city east of Toronto are investigating a series of cat mutilations and missing cats reported around a neighborhood park since October.

Residents in Oshawa, 25 miles east of Toronto, have found two beheaded cats in a park, another dead kitten posed by a path with a stick penetrating its mouth and out the back of its neck, as well as severed paws in driveways and yards, the Toronto Sun reported Friday.

Durham Regional Police spokesman Dave Selby said it was a tough case to investigate.

"We're not saying they're connected. There's a chance that they are," Selby told the newspaper.

Missing posters for five cats have been posted in the neighborhood in recent weeks, and 15-year-old Alex Myette told the newspaper the thought of the perpetrators made him nervous.

"It's scary. If they don't think it's bad to decapitate a cat, you worry they may do something worse," he said.