Animal protection groups are hoping the public will lead them to the culprit who left a cat inside an Etobicoke garbage can, bound by the limbs and covered in a purple substance.

The dead cat was also wrapped in a pillow case and a cloth bag, according to the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Police were the ones who alerted the OSPCA to the discovery at Smyth Park on Sunday afternoon. The OSCPCA took the cat to the University of Guelph for a necropsy -- a post-mortem examination that will help experts determine how the cat died.

Police, the OSPCA and the Etobicoke Humane Society are looking to speak with any witnesses who may know the cat or may have seen something peculiar at the park.

Anyone with information can call the OSPCA at 1-888-668-7722 or police at 12 Division at 416-808-1200.