Dismembered kittens: Police find zero leads, abandon investigation - sources

The police have abandoned their investigation into the discovery of two butchered kittens in Paola earlier this month because they found “zero leads”, according to a source familiar with the case.

In a case reminiscent of the infamous ‘Mosta cat killer’, the two kittens, which were just a few weeks old, were found dismembered and dumped in St George’s Street on Wednesday 10 July.

The grim discovery was made by a resident, and the police and the Animal Welfare Directorate were immediately alerted about the case. The only parts of the kittens that were left intact were the heads and the paws. A spokesperson from animal welfare group Time for Change said that the precisions of the cuts proved that it was a human who committed the act.

“We’re very shocked and major action is needed to protect stray animals in Malta. This abuse is sadly becoming a trend,” the group said.

The shocking case of animal cruelty led to public outrage, with many sharing the blurred out photos on social media and demanding justice.

The Paola local council, which had also filed a police report about the case, said it had also received numerous reports of poison being placed in cat food around the area.

A source close to the case, however, said the police had found no leads at all that could lead them to identity the perpetrator or perpetrators.

“They do not even know whether the kittens were already dead when they were chopped up. The investigation has already been closed because there is no information whatsoever that can lead to the case being solved,” the source said.

In June 2014, a man had been charged over a spate of cat and dog crucifixions in Mosta, but was cleared of all charges. He was, however, held at Mount Carmel Hospital.

Court appointed psychiatrists, who had declared the man insane, had found that the he had had no intention of harming the animals. In a letter to The Malta Independent, the man had claimed that he would pick up dead animals from the streets, nail them to crosses and hang them near religious sites in Mosta.