Tails cut, faces smashed: Activist claims string of cat killings across Malta are connected

Animal activist Romina Frendo has sounded the alarm over what she believes is a string of sadistic cat killings connected to the same individual or group.

Frendo, who has for the past weeks recorded and documented these mysterious cat deaths, said at least three cats found dead in Sliema, Gzira and Valletta have been found with same injuries: a smashed in face, a broken jaw and the tail’s tip cut off.

“It started off quite under the radar because let’s be realistic people do not normally report a dead cat in the street,” she told MaltaToday.

The issue was first brought to light on 17 June by Debbie Calamatta from Facebook group Malta Pet Adoption Group after cats were attacked and killed in the area of St Alfons Street, Our Saviour Street, and St Charles Street.

Speaking on the matter, Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Alicia Bugeja Said stated that she was deeply saddened by the abuse, and appealed anyone with information to speak up.

On Wednesday, Frendo told MaltaToday she is trying to connect the dots, and when walking the Sliema streets where one of the cats was killed, she had spotted a CCTV.

When analysing the CCTV footage with the owner of the property, she saw what she claimed was a foreign man slamming the cat against the ground in Our Saviour Street in Sliema on 11 June.

The man, according to Frendo, is seen approaching the friendly cat, before slamming it against the ground, and killing it. Footage has been forwarded to the police.

Frendo is also suspecting that cats are being taken off the street in areas around Malta.

“Cat feeders have reported 10 missing cats in Valletta, three in Bormla and at least one attempt in Gzira.

Frendo also suggested the killings could be part of an underground animal torture ring. A CNN investigation last May revealed how networks across the globe, mostly China, are creating and sharing videos of cats being tortured.

Consumers of these videos often have a sexual fetish for animal cruelty – known as “zoosadism” – deriving pleasure from watching the suffering of defenceless animals, experts told CNN.

€1,000 is being offered by the Real Animal Rights Foundation for information leading to the identification of the alleged perpetrator.

Romina Frendo is also urging people who find dead cats to not immediately dispose of the body in order for it to be used as evidence.