Residents of the normally sleepy community of Achna Forest were left outraged this week after one of their own tortured a cat to death, police said yesterday.
The helpless animal was found blown to pieces after culprits placed firecrackers in the cat’s rectum and ears.
The incident, which is under investigation by the Sovereign Base of Dhekelia police, occurred sometime before April 14.
“We heard about the incident on the morning of April 15. The community got wind of it the day before and it came to our attention. We thought initially it might be a hoax until the forest cleaner said it was true and he’d seen the cat. We don’t know if it happened on the 14th or perhaps at the weekend,” a police sergeant confirmed.
For the time being police have no idea who was behind the torture, how many people were involved, or how old they were.
“It could have been a child or an adult. We really don’t know at this point,” he said.
Although investigators were still no closer to making any arrests, the sergeant said he believed it was only a matter of another week before investigators made a breakthrough.
“This is Cyprus. It’s a small place and people talk. At some point we’re going to find out who is behind this… What happened is abnormal, it’s sick, and we are taking it very seriously,” he said.
A second officer said the community and police had been left stunned by the horrific incident.
“Never have we had to investigate something like this before. We’ve had cases of neglect or an animal mistreated, but never something as heinous as this. Never have we had to investigate the torture of an animal. It’s one thing to forget to feed a dog and another to blow it up using up firecrackers,” she said.
The female officer said if the culprits were over 16 they would be prosecuted. If they were younger, the Social Welfare Services would be notified and those involved would be penalised in someway such as doing compulsory community service.
The first sergeant said the incident had compelled authorities to increase police presence in the area.
“The community of Achna Forest is not usually problematic. We’ve never had anything like this in the area. It’s shocked the community and the police. Nevertheless there are more patrols in the area now and we’re looking for firecrackers now in the run up to Easter and keeping an eye on youngsters on mopeds. Our presence is definitely more apparent since this has happened,” he said.
