First of all, I never was, am not, and never will be a ‘bunny hugger’.
That out of the way, I was also taught to only kill at need, cleanly, quickly, and painlessly as possible. PERIOD
The one neighbor, and some of the other neighborhood brats, however seem to enjoy not only killing, but maiming and torturing any stray animals that they catch. poking them with sticks, pelting them with rocks, throwing them, cutting off their tails, putting out eyes, setting them on fire, shooting at them with roman candles, tying strings of firecrackers to their tails, even shooting them with crossbows… all of it.
Yes, the humane society and the state police have already been called - repeatedly. They claim that they can’t/won’t DO anything without photographic evidence. Besides, these monsters will and vandalize the property of anyone who they think may have turned them in. (again, it seems you need to provide positive physical proof to even get the cops to bother to even come out and investigate.) – Doing ANYthing, even just telling them to stop, puts our dogs, my garden, several hundreds of dollars worth of railroad scenery, and several rather expensive projects directly in harms way. I can’t afford to set up video cameras all around the house, but it may come to that. We also may well end up pretty much prisoners in our own home.
Rescuing the animals one or two at a time, without these people finding out, seems to be the only viable option that we can see. Even if we could technically be prosecuted for theft… We’ve found homes (far away) for two kittens already… There are several more (about 5) very skittish (tailless and scarred) cats to be relocated, then dogs - some actually belonging to these people, and a couple so afraid of people that they try to bite if they can’t run and hide.
Sooner or later we probably ARE going to be suspected. These people aren’t stupid, just twisted. Meanwhile, anybody willing to open their home and heart?