Cape Town - The reward for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the Manenberg serial cat killer has been increased to R7 000, as autopsy reports this week confirmed the brutality of the person or persons behind the killing of 37 animals.
The Animal Welfare Society (AWS) of South Africa on Thursday said they received the independent post-mortem reports on the cat cadavers, sent to the Western Cape Government Veterinary Laboratory, on July 30.
“Based on the veterinary pathologists comments and observations, we can now confidently state that the vast majority of cats were maliciously and brutally killed by a person or group of individuals,” AWS said.
According to the post-mortem reports: one of the cats died as a result of severe blunt force trauma to her left dorsal thorax, leading to traumatic severing of the spine and multiple fractures to the ribs. It appear she was beaten and disembowelled.
The other cat suffered equally gruesome fatal injuries and the post-mortem confirmed gruesome injuries to his body. The nature of his injuries suggests a sharp blade was used.
“The report goes on to confirm that the cat’s hearts and lungs had been removed by severing the trachea and oesophagus at the thoracic inlet, and cutting away part of the diaphragm. The wound edges were smooth and linear, as if made by a sharp blade. This corroborates our early observations,” AWS said.
There is now clear evidence of “human intervention” pre and post-mortem, and neither of the cadavers had any signs of associated dog trauma, but this may not be the case for all of the 37 cats killed to date.
“The traumatic manner in which these cats are being killed has significantly escalated to a degree like nothing ever seen before.
“Now that we have a better understanding of how these cats are being massacred and what is killing them, we have increased our reward to R7 000 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator(s).
“We have enhanced our investigative efforts, by using technology that never sleeps, and the once small group of dedicated community patrollers has evolved into a formidable force, that is constantly feeding us with invaluable intelligence,” said the AWS.
Anyone with information on the incidents can anonymously contact AWS on 021 692 2626 during office hours, or 082 601 1761 after hours.
Cape Times