In what is suspected to be a horrific act of vengeance, 19 cats and kittens aged between eight weeks and five years have been poisoned.
The poisoning took place between Prospero Road and Stateway, Bedelia.
This act has been described as cruel by two women who witnessed its aftermath. It is through their employment at a business in this area that the women were exposed to this act.
As there are no specific witnesses or proof, there is little hope of catching the perpetrators.
One of the women says that when she came on duty at her place of work on 19 November, she found the first dead cat in the carport with white foam coming out of its mouth.
She was then informed that there was a kitten lying dead in the garden area.
She and another staff member then did a thorough check of the premises and found two more dead cats. A neighbour confirmed that he had also found three dead feral cats on his premises. These are cats that he was regularly feeding and taking care of.
The woman sent photos of the dead cats to the owner of the business, who answered by saying she must get rid of all of the cats there or she, the owner, would bring a pellet gun.
At this stage there were a total of seven dead cats.
By 21 November, a total of 14 cats were found dead. The Virginia SPCA was called in and they found more dead cats and kittens. By the end of the day on 23 November, a total of 19 cats had been found dead.
Between one SPCA inspector and an employee of the business, they managed to catch two cats alive. This employee says this is not the first time that the owner of the business has threatened to do something about the cats on the premises.
On Tuesday, 10 December, the women registered three complaints under the Animals Protection Act, which was then entered into the SAPS Occurrence Book (OB) in Welkom.
