Over 50 cats go missing in Austrian town
Animal rescue services suspect there could be a serial cat-napper at work in the Austrian town of Frauenkirchen after more than fifty cats disappear in the region in under two years.
Around 40 of the 52 cats that have gone missing are domestic house cats, with the rest thought to be strays.
It is believed the cat napper could be torturing the animals as several of them have returned home with severe injuries.
On six occasions, cats returned home with broken legs that vets said clearly "were from a blow, rather than from fighting or a car".
Two cats also came home having been injured in animal traps and only on Tuesday a further animal returned covered in cuts.
Head of Burgenland's Animal Rescue Otto Bierbaum said locals are fearful some of the cats will have been killed, although there is no evidence of this thus far.
“I was first called by Frauenkirchen residents registering their missing pets at the beginning of the year. In the past months the messages have piled up,” Bierbaum told local newspaper BVZ.
Since he posted about the case on Facebook, Bierbaum said he received even more messages from pet owners reporting similar incidents.
So far no owners have filed a complaint with the police, which Bierbaum says is due to fear they will be targeted by the person carrying out the attacks. “It’s mad that one individual can intimidate an entire village,” he said.
The animal rescue services have now filed a case with police, who say for reasons connected to the investigation they cannot currently comment on the case.
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Around 40 of the 52 cats that have gone missing are domestic house cats, with the rest thought to be strays.
It is believed the cat napper could be torturing the animals as several of them have returned home with severe injuries.
On six occasions, cats returned home with broken legs that vets said clearly "were from a blow, rather than from fighting or a car".
Two cats also came home having been injured in animal traps and only on Tuesday a further animal returned covered in cuts.
Head of Burgenland's Animal Rescue Otto Bierbaum said locals are fearful some of the cats will have been killed, although there is no evidence of this thus far.
“I was first called by Frauenkirchen residents registering their missing pets at the beginning of the year. In the past months the messages have piled up,” Bierbaum told local newspaper BVZ.
Since he posted about the case on Facebook, Bierbaum said he received even more messages from pet owners reporting similar incidents.
So far no owners have filed a complaint with the police, which Bierbaum says is due to fear they will be targeted by the person carrying out the attacks. “It’s mad that one individual can intimidate an entire village,” he said.
The animal rescue services have now filed a case with police, who say for reasons connected to the investigation they cannot currently comment on the case.
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