A loving cat owner was horrified to find their pet in a garden with his ears and face mutilated.
The shocking discovery has sparked fresh concern that a feline killer is at large. Ovie, who was not yet two years old, was found by its young owner in Caterham, near Croydon, with his ears and the side of his scalp removed on Tuesday (March 14).
A vet has reportedly since confirmed the injuries were caused by a human and that Ovie was likely injured by a sharp object. As a result, Boudicca Rising, of the South London Animal Investigation Network (Slain), has called for cat owners to be vigilant and to report as she continues the manhunt for the infamous ‘Croydon Cat Killer’, feared by residents.
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Speaking to MyLondon, Ovie’s owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “I had woken up and about an hour after waking up I opened my curtains. I could tell it was Ovie and I could see he was wet and dirty. His fur is white and fluffy so I could tell something wasn’t right.
"I went downstairs and looked closer then woke my sister up. I didn’t want to look at the injuries but my sister did because she has experience with working with abused animals. She gave me this look, wrapped him in a towel and called my mum.
“There wasn’t any blood, it was more than likely done with something sharp. They had removed his ears and the side of his scalp. At first I thought it was a fox because I thought surely a human wouldn’t hurt my cat but my sister said, ‘I really don’t think this is an animal attack, it’s too clean’.”
Her mum later posted on a local community Facebook page, with other users urging her to make contact with Slain, which has continued to investigate cat killings in recent years. The group’s leader, Boudicca, visited Ovie at the vets and confirmed that his injuries were “very similar” to the ones found on previously killed animals.
“We’ve examined the body closely, there are no signs of a road traffic accident or bite marks on the body, I fail to see how an animal could create injuries where they just take the ears,” she said.
Boudicca first became involved in tracking the elusive ‘Croydon Cat Killer’ in 2015, after she and her former partner Tony Jenkins became aware of a series of cat beheadings in Addiscombe. “We’d been going for a year when a vet posted on Facebook telling people to keep their cats indoors in Addiscombe because they’d had four that had been brought in that had been mutilated,” she said.
“We were rehoming in Addiscombe so we called that vets and they said they’d had four beheadings and we called our vets and they said ‘we’ve had one as well’. The police weren’t doing anything, the RSPCA said it was foxes and we were thinking ‘we can’t now rehome in Addiscombe’. Someone had to do something about it and that someone turned out to be us.”
Over the last seven years, Boudicca and a team of dedicated volunteers have organised public meetings and patrols in areas such as Penge, Bromley and Beckenham, to try and catch the cat killer.
In 2015, the Met Police also launched an investigation after members of the public reported a number of mutilated cats, often found with their heads and tails removed, in the Croydon and surrounding area. Led by Detective Sergeant Andy Collin, he said in 2017: "Cats are targeted because they are associated with the feminine. The killer can't deal with a woman or women who are troubling him".
He added that he was worried that "at some stage he'll escalate or feel brave enough to move on to vulnerable women and girls." However, despite the high publicity, the investigation was closed in 2018 with the Met Police saying that foxes mutilating the bodies of cats that had died in road traffic accidents was the most likely explanation.
Boudicca and her team have continued to investigate and have compiled together a large database, detailing all the animals they believe have been killed at the hands of a human being. “If a vet calls us and says ‘we think we have something that’s human related, we go along and if we agree it is human-related, it falls into our investigation as a confirmed case,” she explains.
“If we don’t see the body or the vet says we’re not sure and sends us photos, that goes down as highly suspected.” In instances when the vets are unsure, it is categorised as a suspected case.
As of March 2021, there are around 600 instances that were definitely caused by humans, with another 400 in the highly suspected category and another few hundred categorised as suspected. The group have continued to “keep their mind open” as to whether the perpetrator is one person, or if there are several copycat killers in different areas.
Just in recent weeks, the group have been made aware of two cats that were found dead in a garden in Warlingham and a fox with its ears removed near the recreation ground in Whyteleafe, with the vet confirming its injuries were human-made. Flyers are now being handed out in Caterham, warning other cat owners of the risks and urging them to be vigilant.
“The message is; this has happened, a vet has confirmed it’s human related, we are investigating and we’re appealing for information,” Boudicca said. “All information is confidential, we can process CCTV and obviously if anyone has any ideas who might be doing this, let us know.”
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