QUESTIONS surround the recent disappearance of several feral cats at the Sonny Evans Small Craft Harbour in Shelly Beach.
Trudie Roets, who feeds numerous colonies between Uvongo beach and the harbour, is devastated and believes the cats may have been deliberately poisoned.
She has been feeding the colony of six sterilised cats at the harbour for the last eight years.
A disheartened Mrs Roets said she had saved one of her favourite feral cats, nicknamed ‘Spyker Bum’, only for him to be killed by poisoning four years later.
Last year, Mrs Roets found three more cats had been poisoned.
She has asked anyone who may have any information to come forward. “I am counting on ‘kitty karma’ to do its job,” she said.
There have also been unconfirmed reports of the deaths of a hadeda and two storks at the harbour.
Inspector Julia Watson, of the Lower South Coast SPCA, discovered pieces of chopped sausages which had been smeared with the supposed poison this week.
She took statements from various witnesses, and the meat has been sent to a laboratory for testing.
Michael Muller, the LSC SPCA manager, said the animal protection act clearly states that any person ‘laying or exposing poison, or any poisoned fluid or edible matter, except for the destruction of vermin is guilty of contravening the act’.
Mr Muller said that a healthy and controlled feral cat population benefits a community, and through an active catch-neuter-and-release programme, such as the one undertaken by Mrs Roets and the LSC SPCA, could effectively control the feral cat population.
He said money spent on the sterilisation and vaccination of the animals had been ‘wasted’.
“Now that a controlled colony has been removed, a new group of feral cats will take its place and breed uncontrollably,” he said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Mr Muller at 060 5020421.
I’m am disgusted who could be so cruel and inhumane towards these poor animals. Its heartbreaking to think we live in a world were people would just kill for fun because there is no other reason to hurt those poor cats. I personally hope these monsters come to light and justice takes a firm grip to teach them a lasting lesson.