Is there a way to figure out who's doing this?

A colony of ferals lives in our neighborhood. My neighbor Mary (a very sweet woman) has already TNR'd most of them, and she feeds them too, as well as housing them in her garage (garage door cracked) and little shelters when it's cold. We (her, my husband and I) have noticed that several of these cats seem to have injured front legs. You can't get near them—they are pretty wild and she has had a hard time trapping some of them—but it looks to me like maybe their front legs have been broken about 1/4 of the way up above their paws. There's no broken skin that I can see (again, it's hard to get close), but they won't put any weight on that leg. Like I said, it looks like the leg/paw has been broken and has healed incorrectly. The cats in question tend to disappear for a while (not come up for feedings, etc.) and then have the broken leg when they come back. I think they get injured and then hide somewhere while it heals enough for them to move around on.

Because this injury has happened to several of the cats, and because it's always a front leg/paw, I suspect that they are being injured in some sort of human-set trap. Is anyone familiar with a trap that would do this? Also, can I report this to an agency who would actually do something about it? I have no idea who would do something this awful. It may be that they are trying to trap something else and getting cats, but still. I would think there's probably a law about setting traps like that in the city limits.

First off I would try and use a have- a -heart trap and catch one of the cats with the injured legs. And find a vet or animal shelter who would find out what the injury is..I would hate to think that anyone could be so cruel to be doing this on purpose!! But sadly yes there are people in this world who would and do...
Next try and get a few fellow cat lovers in your neighbor hood to walk around in any wooded areas and check for any type of traps.
Write a letter to your editor of your local paper about what is going on.. get the word out.. Hang up posters in your neighbohood asking others to be on the look out.This way you will have people on the look out for traps or suspicious activities going on that might lead to the culprits..
Sometimes getting the word out is enough to stop whom ever is doing this. They may think what they are doing is going unnoticed. If they are aware that others are on the look out for them. They just might stop..
Good Luck. What a terrible thing to do to any animal but ferals have it tough enough with out the added disadvantage of a injury of this type..

Gardenandcats has some excellent suggestions. I would also add contacting the local humane society & Dept. of Fish & Game (Dept. of Wildlife Resources, in some states), and even check out www.animallaw.info (Mich.St. U. College of Law website) for links to laws pertaining to your particular state. It wouldn't hurt to call your mayor's office & tell his secretary and see what they suggest; also, your county commissioner should be kept informed; they will be interested, esp.if articles start appearing in the papers... please keep us posted! Meanwhile, I will pray for protection & healing for the kitties, and encouragement & results for your efforts. Bless you, Mary & the other neighbors for already doing so very,very much for those helpless cats. Susan

This makes me so mad I feel sick. I hope these people can be found out and brought to some kind of justice. How awful that someone, anyone, would do such a thing. Poor kitties...they could have to suffer the consequences for the rest of thier lives. Thanks YOU for looking out for them and doing what you can to help. Bless you!
Linda

Thanks, everyone, for your suggestions. I will definitely implement as many as I can as soon as possible. This colony of ferals has it pretty good, considering they're ferals (mainly because of Mary's efforts), except for this issue. If we can get this trapping stopped, there's no reason these cats can't live a relatively happy life. They are not hurting anyone.