The Civil Guard is investigating the poisoning of seven stray cats during the early hours of Monday morning in la calle Langosta, behind the Go Kart track on the Orihuela Costa.
It is thought that local people became angry at the activities of one lady resident who, in addition to her own cats, was feeding up to another 20 feral cats on a daily basis. Despite requests from local residents not to do so, she ignored their requests and continued to feed the stray animals.
One local residents said that they caused a lot of problems particularly with the mess they made across the urbanisation, their scavenging and the noise.
The Local Police had recently become involved in the problem and were trying to have the cats moved to an animal sanctuary, but they were still awaiting a response from the council department dealing with the request.
When they attended the scene on Monday morning they found that six of the cats were dead, lying on the road, and a seventh animal was dying. Many residents labelled the poisoning as a “savage” and warned the Ayuntamiento de Orihuela who fear that similar incidents could occur again.
Residents have also requested the intervention of the Guardia Civil Seprona officers, the team that is specialised in animal protection but they did not arrive.
The same sources indicated that it will be difficult for any police investigations to find the perpetrator of the poisoning as there are no witnesses to the crime.
