Peter Reid was worried that a copycat of the Strathdale cat trapper was baiting bones and kidnapping pets after three of his cats went missing for periods of time.

All his cats returned sick and two were taken to the vet suffering from trauma and exhaustion. 

Mr Reid suspects they were taken, dumped out of town and then walked back to his property.

He said his cats were mainly kept inside and unlikely to have ventured from his property.

Mr Reid and his partner’s son, Tristan Constantine, put posters up around the area warning residents of a potential cat abductor.

Two neighbours responded to the posters and reported that they also had missing cats.

Mr Reid and Mr Constantine searched their neighbourhood and found mounds of large bones underneath power poles, which Mr Reid believes were used to bait the cats.

“They were put in areas specific to where the cats had gone missing,” he said. 

The pair has heard from residents in other Bendigo suburbs with similar stories of missing animals.

Bruce Dorrington, of Strathfieldsaye, contacted Mr Constantine after seeing a poster and said his adopted pet cat was also missing.

“I accept if the RSPCA pick up my animal and we are slapped with a $50 fine,” he said. “What I don’t accept is cruelty to animals; someone taking the law into their own hands and abducting cats.”

Mr Reid said there were patterns to the disappearance of the pets.

“There are too many similar things to be a freak, odd occurrence,” he said. “We are very concerned this isn’t isolated. We don’t know if there’s a scattered bunch of cat-haters but we suspect there could be some links.”