On Tuesday January 23, a resident of Le Tarn, southwestern France, was caught red handed drowning a cat that got stuck in one of the traps in his garden. It turns out the man, aged 80 years old, was a notorious cat killer having captured and drowned cats for years.
That day Alexandre Sauvage, a neighbour of the cat killer, had his cousin over. Upon leaving the house, he saw a man with a cage in his hand, and inside the cage, a cat. The man then plunged the cage in a barrel of water where the cat drowned moments later.
Source: Richard Bornia
Alexandre Sauvage has now come to the sad conclusion that the three cats he had lost since 2010, had in fact been killed by his neighbour. Many other cats in the area also shared the same fate over the years. He said to French magazine La Dépêche:
We had no idea it was such a terrible death. We were far from suspecting this elderly man.
Sauvage warned the police to come and see the numerous traps set in place at his neighbour's house for themselves
When faced with the authorities, the man "was neither surprised not frightened" says Sauvage. The reason for this being that "it seemed normal" to get rid of cats that intruded into his garden as they risked scaring the rabbits he kept there.[caption id="attachment_46240" align="alignnone" width="623"]
The barrels used to drown the cats. Source: La Dépêche[/caption]The elderly man had a whole system set up to stop cats intruding. He placed traps in front of small holes that he made himself in his wire fence. If a cat was to venture inside, the cage would immediately trap it inside.Sauvage gives the exact details of the procedure, as explained by his neighbour:
Calmly, he told me he woke up early every morning to inspect the traps. If a cat was unfortunately in one of them, he immediately plunged the cage with the cat inside in a barrel full of water. Once he was sure the cat had drowned, he threw it in the bin.
An investigation is currently underway by the local police who must decide if he killed cats belonging to families or just stray cats. Alexandre has since filed a complaint against the man for losing his three cats. He has also alerted the SPA (French equivalent of the RSPCA or ASPCA).French charity 30 Million d'Amis has also filed a complaint for his "cruel acts" and "serious abuse".The killer has promised he won't do it again.
H/t : La Dépêche
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