A serial killer of rabbits has struck fear into the hearts of the people of a picturesque French village on the north Brittany coast. 
 
 More than 100 animals have fallen victim to the mystery killer since he or she began their murderous spree in and around the village of Minihy-Tréguier, a pretty spot popular with tourists and home to a handful of British expats. 
 
 "The village is gripped by fear," Jean-Yves Fenvarc'h, the mayor of the village of 1,300 people, told the Telegraph. 
 
 The killer sneaks into people's gardens, removes the rabbits from their hutches, kills them with a sharp object or by simply crushing them with his foot, and then leaves their dead bodies where they died. 
 
 The rabbits he kills are often kept by elderly people who house them in their gardens, sometimes alongside chickens or geese. 
 
 “He (the killer) never touches the chickens or the geese,” said Mr Fenvarc'h. 
 
 The mayor said the attacks, which now number 15 in total, began in March, then eased off before starting again in August, and then, after another lull, resumed earlier this month. 
 
 What makes the situation particularly scary, he said, was the fact that the killer sometimes returns to the scene of a crime to kill again. ||||| Detectives are hunting a serial killer who is believed to be responsible for beating to death about a hundred pet rabbits in a small town in Brittany. 
 
 Officers believe that the culprit, whom they describe as cold-blooded, is human rather than a fox or another wild animal and have issued an appeal for witnesses. 
 
 The killer strikes when owners leave home, raising fears that properties are being watched. Local residents believe that the killer must know the area to be able to identify people with rabbit hutches that are not visible from the road. 
 
 Police in the Côtes-d’Armor region denounced a “series of acts of cruelty against domestic rabbits” in and around the town of Minihy-Tréguier. “The cages are opened then the animals are killed… ||||| More than 100 cats are reported to have been found mutilated across the South of England in the past year amid fears a prolific cat killer continues to operate across the region. 
 
 Forty severed cat corpses – as well as several butchered foxes and rabbits - have been collected with severed heads, tails and paws since October and are currently undergoing post-mortem examinations. 
 
 But the overall number of cats reported to have been murdered in a similar way over the past 18 months exceeds 100, according to South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL). 
 
 SNARL, which operates in the Croydon area, identified the recurring attacks in September last year, and have since been taking reports and collecting the butchered bodies to help police find the killer. 
 
 “Initially we were informed of 10 cases from around the Croydon area,” Boudicca Rising, co-founder of SNARL, told The Independent. 
 
 “We shared the stories on Facebook and other people from further afield started coming forward and saying the same had happened to their animals. There are now over a hundred that we know about.” 
 
 The RSPCA is currently carrying out post-mortem examinations on the animal corpses and Scotland Yard has been investigating the case since late-January. 
 
 Tony Jenkins, the other co-founder of SNARL, said: “We’ve had cases as far as Luton, plus two in Surrey, with a possible third as far as Farnborough. Other reports have been from all over London including Richmond, Kingston, Stepney and Finchley. 
 
 “So calling the culprit the Croydon Cat Killer is inaccurate – it’s misleading. It’s happening right across the South.” 
 
 Post-mortem tests have so far confirmed the animals died from 'blunt force trauma', and some have speculated the culprit is luring them in and then using brute force such as batting or kicking to kill them, before mutilating the bodies and leaving the animals where they were found. 
 
 “Blunt force trauma doesn’t necessarily mean the animal was hit by a car,” said Mr Jenkins. “Some of the cats have had undigested chicken in their stomachs, which suggests the killer is luring the cats. Blunt force trauma could be a baseball bat or a kick. 
 
 “It looks like the killer takes them away and does what he does then puts the cat back where he finds them. It is often right on people’s doorsteps or driveways. The killer clearly wants the dead animals found." 
 
 While the majority of the victims have been cats, similar attacks have also taken place on foxes and rabbits. 
 
 Among the reported murders there have been three unconfirmed reports of foxes being beheaded, one confirmed report of a fox with no ears and a case of two pet decapitated rabbits found by their owner laying side-by-side in a secure hutch. 
 
 “It’s not just the poor animals suffering, it is the owners as well,“ said Mr Jenkins. ”For some people the cat is part of their family. It’s a little furry human. So this is really horrific. People are really devastated by it. 
 
 “Cruelty to animals has been going on forever. But these cases are very particular, that’s why they stand out. 
 
 Ms Rising added: “This isn’t someone coming home and kicking the dog because they’re frustrated at work. This is very deliberate. It’s an attack on people as well. Some people have been completely violated by the whole thing. 
 
 "The police can only act on physical evidence, which is why we’ve been collecting the bodies. There is now quite a collection of physical evidence so we hope the murderer will be caught soon."
– A French town is being terrorized by a serial killer—but humans aren't the target. The Telegraph reports that someone in the village of Minihy-Treguier has so far slaughtered more than 100 rabbits, slipping into residents' yards, yanking rabbits out of their hutches, and either stomping them to death by foot or murdering them with a sharp tool of some kind. "The cages are opened, then the animals are killed in cold blood and left at the scene," a police statement notes, per the Sunday Times. The town's mayor says there've been 15 attacks in all, starting in March, with some homes getting hit more than once. "He returned to one home four times, killing 20 rabbits there in all," the mayor notes. One woman who lost six adult rabbits—as well as some of their babies, which died after the mothers were killed—tells local media she once surprised a man she though was the rabbit murderer, wearing a black hat and a long raincoat, one morning, "but he had the time to make his escape." Oddly left alone in these murderous rampages: chickens and geese that often cohabitate with the bunnies. (Authorities don't think foxes or other animals are killing the rabbits, as was the case with a slew of mysterious cat deaths in the UK.)