The ancient proverb goes that a cat has nine lives - but poor Suki looks like she doesn’t have many left after startling footage showed the 11-year-old tabby surviving an explosion on a bird table.
The video of the incident in the Northamptonshire village of Whittlebury shows the cat entering the free-standing bird table before an apparent explosive device forced her to make a quick exit.
Fortunately, the cat only suffered singed whiskers and now has a far less trusting disposition, her owner, Nikki Elam, said.
Ms Elam’s warning on the village’s community page on social media then reportedly led to claims the booby trap involved a Whittlebury parish councillor, according to LBC, although a police investigation led to no-one being charged.
And after the story went viral last Friday, Whittlebury Parish Council issued a statement that said councillor James Garnor had stepped down with immediate effect.
In its statement, the council said: “We are aware of the recent media coverage regarding an alleged incident involving one of our parish councillors. The incident in question, which reportedly took place in 2023, was investigated at the time by Northamptonshire Police who decided to not take any further action.”
“It is important to clarify that this incident occurred in a private capacity and not in any official capacity as a councillor.
“Whittlebury Parish Council does not have the authority to remove a councillor from their position. According to the law, a councillor can only be disqualified if they have received a criminal conviction and a custodial sentence exceeding three months.
“We understand the concerns raised by the community and want to assure everyone that we take all matters of animal welfare seriously. We can confirm that councillor Garnor resigned from the council on Friday 7th February 2025, with immediate effect.”
Ms Elam said Suki had been traumatised by the incident, which happened in the garden of a property in the village’s High Street on 9 April 2023.
She told LBC: “[Suki] came home one day missing her whiskers on her face - they looked like they’d been dissolved - so I put a post in my local community page on Facebook… just to warn people in case there was something she’d rolled in that had dissolved them.
“But somebody contacted me to tell me it wasn’t what I thought it was, that somebody had actually blown my cat up. It made me feel physically sick.”
Northamptonshire Police investigated the incident and confirmed no criminal charges were brought.
A spokesperson said: “There was insufficient evidence to prove criminal charges in relation to the investigation. The matter was dealt with by use of anti-social behaviour legislation in March 2024.
“The owner of the cat was updated throughout the investigation and was advised of this outcome.”
The Independent has been unable to contact Mr Garnor.
