It’s too early to call it an animal abuse trend. But it’s causing concern.

Consider the case of Pixie, a brown and white cat brought into the Blue Earth/Nicollet County Humane Society with a tail that looked like something out of a Stephen King novel.

Best they can tell is that it was subjected to cruel treatment, and possibly its tail had been set afire. A veterinarian amputated Pixie’s tail this week.

Or Jenny, the Boston terrier who was nearly starved to death by an owner who refused to feed it or let it out of its kennel regularly. By the time it got help, its fur was stained from urine and feces and it was, humane society officials say, days from death. (Jenny’s situation resulted in criminal charges. See related story below.)

Or Apollo, the kitten found mid-February with its hind legs duct-taped together, who eventually lost one of those legs when daily, around-the-clock care couldn’t save it.

And there are others.

“I don’t know if it’s a rash or if we’re just more aware of it,” said Katherine Nelson, a member of the BENCHS board of directors. “Maybe it just seems like more because we are so involved with them all ... It’s like child abuse. It’s always been there. But people are talking about it more now.”

These animals all came through the BENCHS facility where all benefited from a relatively new program called the SNAP (Save Neglected and Abused Pets) fund.

The SNAP fund was started when the humane society was hit with a run of severe animal abuse cases that required costly medical treatment.

Apollo, a dog named Hope with a leg broken in two places and a pair of shi tzus dropped off at the shelter one morning — Felix and Oscar — all arrived at the shelter needing help.

Katherine Nelson, a member of the BENCHS board of directors, said care for Apollo and Hope surpassed $2,000.

“If we take that out of the general fund, we wouldn’t have money to buy food for the animals,” Nelson said.

The SNAP fund is strictly dedicated to animals in need of extreme care. In Apollo’s case, she was transported to a Sioux Falls vet hospital for hip surgery. Another cat that benefited from SNAP fund surgery needed BBs removed from one of it eyes. The cat was adopted by an intern at the pet hospital who assisted during surgery.

Jenny, the Boston terrier, was severely undernourished when she was rescued. Nicollet vet Gala Beckendorf described her in a report filed in Blue Earth County District Court: “Extremely emaciated body condition; dogs are scored on a scale 1 to 9; she was less than a 1 in my opinion; her condition was merely skin over bone with very minimal musculature left.”

“People need to take care of their animals,” Nelson said. “Animals like Jenny, she lived in that house with this person. She walked by this dog every day.”