Reward offered in cat torture case

Waikouaiti's Constable Jon-Paul Tremain looks through his file on a series of cat deaths in the...
Waikouaiti's Constable Jon-Paul Tremain looks through his file on a series of cat deaths in the town last month. Photo by Craig Baxter.
A $2000 reward for information has been offered by an Auckland woman as more incidents of cat torture in Waikouaiti come to light.

Police revealed yesterday that up to six cats died in bizarre and, in some cases, sickening circumstances last month.

An Auckland woman contacted the Otago Daily Times yesterday to say she was so disgusted by what had happened she was offering a reward of $2000 for any information leading to the conviction of those who tortured the cats.

She hoped the public would step in and help the police find whoever had done such a "horrific" thing to "such beautiful animals".

On Monday, Constable Jon-Paul Tremain, of Waikouaiti, said members of the public found two kittens on May 17 with their ears cut off.

One kitten was dead and the other, which also had a broken hind leg, was later put down by a veterinarian.

Yesterday, he said further inquiries during the following week revealed a third kitten had been found dead with its ears cut off, a fourth was found dead from apparent starvation, and another three were found run over.

"All of a sudden, cats were turning up dead and dying. It was just bizarre."

There had been no further reports since then.

Six of the cats were of a similar age, and, from the cats he had seen, appeared to be from the same litter.

He believed the cases were likely to be related.

The seventh cat was an adult that had been run over, and it was possible its death was unrelated to the others, he said.

He believed the cats were not feral, as the one later put down had not been fearful of people at the vet clinic.

All the cats were found at the northern end of Waikouaiti and it appeared in most cases they had been killed somewhere else and dumped.

He described the injuries to the cats as "terrible", and believed they would have suffered enormously.

Neither police nor the veterinarian in Waikouaiti had received any reports of abandoned or missing cats.


debbie.porteous@odt.co.nz

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