‘A DEEPLY SINISTER ATTACK’
CCTV CAPTURES BARBARIC ACT OF ANIMAL CRUELTY BY TWO TEENS ON A SOUTH WALES STREET
TWO teenagers were caught on CCTV enticing a cat from underneath a car and then setting a dog on it in a “disturbing and deeply sinister attack”.
One of the teenagers enticed the cat from under the parked car with a stick before the dog was set on the cat to catch it and kill it.
The body of 12-year-old cat Sully was found in bushes after one of the boys threw his remains over a wall.
The boys, aged 15 and 17 who cannot be named for legal reasons, appeared in court on Tuesday after admitting causing the death of the cat on Gwaelodygrath Lane in Merthyr Tydfil in May.
Both boys were given a 12-month referral order to the youth offending team and were disqualified from keeping any animal for 10 years.
Sully’s owners, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “We are absolutely heartbroken. Sully was so happy, and was a member of our family. His killing by these cruel people brings shame to Merthyr Tydfil.”
The family checked CCTV after their cat had been missing for a number of days and came across the horrifying footage.
The owners said: “It was horrifying to watch, I was screaming at the screen for Sully to run for his life but the dog was just too fast for him. What I witnessed that day will never leave me, it was like watching one of my children being attacked.
“Telling my wife and children he was dead was so, so hard. I will never forget watching the offenders revel in what they did and will never forgive them.
“They threw poor Sully’s body into the bushes like a piece of junk, and I had to go and get the body, and get him cremated, to get some dignity for him. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.”
The owners said Sully was well-known in the area.
“He was always sitting on the path, he’d get petted and fussed by people walking along the lane. He’d regularly sneak into a neighbouring dental practice and make friends with patients in the waiting room,” they said.
RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said: “The shock and horror I felt when I first witnessed this CCTV footage has remained with me. This was a disturbing, harrowing and deeply sinister attack which would have caused immense suffering to poor Sully.
“It is frightening to think two children would set out to do something so deliberately cruel. It appears the dog has been trained to kill like this.
“We know most people across Merthyr and beyond will be disgusted by the treatment of an innocent defenceless cat in this way. This was a premeditated attack, seemingly done for the boys’ fun and pleasure, for which the RSPCA had to seek justice.”
The dog involved in the case has been subjected to a deprivation order and will be taken into RSPCA care until he is ready for rehoming.