SHOCKING: Cat met horrific end on Halloween night in housing estate in Offaly

A RESIDENT of Scurragh Housing Estate in Birr was reduced to a distraught state recently when her cat was savagely killed by person or persons unknown.

Annette Regan was upset enough when her dead cat was brought to her by a neighbour, but was horrified when she was later told by a vet that the pet had been deliberately killed.

“It happened on Hallowe'en Night, October 31st,” she told the Midland Tribune. “My beautiful black cat Mario, who is 13 months of age, went out for his usual ramble around Scurragh and he never came back. Mario was a very friendly cat and I think his friendliness might have been his downfall. If he had been more suspicious and standoffish he might have been alright.”

Annette said she doesn't know who killed her cat, but thinks it might have been a number of teenagers hanging around the creche area in the estate.

Annette has been a pet owner all her life and owns three other cats.

She said the atmosphere wasn't great in the estate on Hallowe'en night. “Kids were banging on doors and letting off fireworks, which irritated the residents and frightened the pets.

“Mario was found the next morning. His body had been dumped about six houses from mine, outside the front door near the mat.

“We brought Mario to the vet and asked him if Mario had been knocked down by a car. The vet examined him and said it wasn't a car which killed him. He said he had been deliberately killed by someone, that his back and all his legs had been broken in the incident. There was also a puncture wound in his body.”

Annette contacted gardai about the incident.

She is appealing to anyone who may have seen anything to please contact the gardai. She thinks Mario was killed at some stage between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on the night.

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Annette added that she was upset to hear that other cat owners in the estate have also been going through a difficult time.

“Somebody else's cat was killed by a banger on Hallowe'en night, and another couple of cats are missing.”

She said she's deeply worried by the mentality of whoever killed Mario.

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“It's a horrific thing to do, against normal human nature. If they are doing that, then it mightn't be long before they do it to a human being. It's like something a serial killer would do.”

Annette, through Facebook, offered people a €700 reward for information about Mario but no one replied.

She said she subsequently cremated Mario and the ashes are now in her home, a cherished reminder of the love and affection which she and the cat once shared.