Five cats have been found dead since March in Southern Paarl, and these deaths are believed to be at the hands of someone out to eliminate the local feral cat population.
Paarl Homeless Cats NPO’s Dalene Rademeyer was angry on learning the cats had been poisoned.
“We put in a lot of love and effort to catch, neuter and release each of them at the beginning of the year,” she said.
“This was done in collaboration with residents of the neighbourhood and De Oude Renbaan.”
Rademeyer said each cat was poisoned on separate occasions since March, the last one reported to police on 10 May.
Paarl police spokesperson Capt Louise du Plessis said a criminal investigation into the death of five stray cats is currently underway.
“The cats’ bodies were found around 7th Avenue,” she said. “The complainant had taken one of the cats to a local vet, who had confirmed it had been poisoned.”
Rademeyer recalled threats being made by a man who voiced his dislike for the cats to one of the volunteering caregivers.
“He allegedly said that the cats are a disturbance in his yard and front porch,” she said. “But there are many residents who have come to care for and feed them, so really they were guilty of being cats who wander.
“Some of the elderly are very angry and sad, because caring for these feral fur babies offered them a measure of companionship and sense of purpose that elude them nowadays.”
The vet’s autopsy revealed the poison was so strong the cat died even before the food was digested.
