There are serious concerns that the notorious “Croydon Cat Killer” is on the prowl once again, with pet owners being warned to be especially cautious over the whereabouts of their pets following a grisly incident at Sanderstead over the weekend.
Take care: cat owners have been advised to take extra care over the whereabouts of their pets overnight
Animal protection campaigners have described as “truly awful” an attack on a family pet in Sanderstead at the weekend, which they believe has many of the tell-tale hallmarks of the cat killer, following several months when there were few, if any, similarly vicious and senseless killings.
The Metropolitan Police abandoned its search for the cat killer in 2018, after a £130,000 investigation concluded that the reported cases of dead pets were most likely due to collisions with vehicles or attacks by urban foxes.
This despite more than 400 reports of dismembered, decapitated and killed cats and other animals, beginning in Croydon in 2014 and spreading across London and the rest of the country.
SLAIN, the South London Animal Investigation Network, has always questioned the police’s explanation, however, and they are on alert once again following a report of a cat being killed and mutilated in Sanderstead.
Fox fix: not everyone accepted the police’s explanations for the pet killings
The cat disappeared from its West Hill home on Friday, its body discovered outside the house on Sunday, October 10. A vet has concluded that the cat was deliberately killed and the incident has been reported to police.
“It was only sheer luck that our children didn’t find him,” the clearly distressed owner, Jodie Albutt, posted on social media last night.
SLAIN’s Boudicca Rising, who has monitored reports of attacks on domestic pets for the past seven years, called the Sanderstead attack “truly awful”.
She told Inside Croydon, “These incidents slowed down during the various lockdowns, but have been happening on and off since they were lifted. We are actively investigating this case.
“We would ask that if anyone finds a mutilated animal that they contact us on 07957 830490 or via our Facebook page. We can then direct them to the nearest vet or arrange attendance to do so ourselves.
“Experience has shown us that publicly patrolling areas at night has cut down the number of incidents in certain areas, and in two, there have not been any incidents in over two years,” she said.
“We are in the process of recruiting more patrollers and will consider adding more areas to the ones we currently cover if enough local people are available to do so. Full training is given to patrollers before they start. We also get leaflets out for incidents where we have enough information to do this.
“If either of these is something readers can help with, please can you ask that they send us a private message on our page.”
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Poor cat, however Boudicca and her team will catch this vile person !
We keep ours in at night but with the winter coming it’s dark from 1600. This looks bad. I love my cat, he’s a right character. He’s part of our family. He has a right to live peacefully. Boudicca has my support.