Vigilance urged after cat found decapitated in Clapton car park

Police have confirmed they are investigating the incident

Cat owners are being urged to be vigilant after the body of a kitten was found missing its head and tail in a private car park in Clapton.

The discovery was made shortly before Christmas close to Northwold Road. The Met Police today confirmed the incident remains under active investigation.

This comes amid apparent indications that the killing was an intentional act by a dangerous individual who remains at large.

Detective Sergeant Andy Collin from Croydon CID is leading Operation Takahe, the Met’s probe into a string of similar killings of animals in London. He has been informed about the Clapton case.

Amanda Straughan, who lives in Stoke Newington and founded Lilly’s Legacy Cat Rescue, saw the kitten’s body shortly after being phoned by the woman who discovered it.

She said: “It was quite a clean cut. The head and tail had been removed.

“Whether it’s the same person that’s responsible for the others [in Croydon and elsewhere], I don’t know.

“I don’t have the privileged information with regards to the autopsy, but to me it did not look natural, and it hadn’t been involved in a road traffic collision.”

There was no blood around the body, she said, indicating that the killing was not carried out on site and that foxes were not to blame.

The absence of damage to the animal’s claws meant that the idea it could have been run over could also be discounted, she added.

She and others have put up posters and distributed leaflets urging people to stay vigilant and keep their cats indoors at night.

Barbara Read of Hackney-based Feline Friends London, who is also a voluntary cat protection officer for Hackney Council, said people should limit direct outdoor access for their cats to areas at the rear of their homes, rather than allowing direct street access.

She also recommended keeping cats indoors from dusk until dawn and neutering them so they were less likely to wander.

Microchipping to increase the chance of a lost feline being reunited with its owner was also highly recommended, she said.

She added: “If people do see anything suspicious, they should call the police. If they see someone in the act of harming an animal, they should call 999 and the RSPCA. If they see the results of it, they should call 101, the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999 and the Met Police’s Wildlife Crime Unit.”

She also recommended contacting South Norwood Animal Rescue Liberty, which is investigating killings of cats in London.

Read, whose contact details are on her organisation’s website, cautioned against jumping to conclusions about any cases where a cat is found dead. She said the disturbing find in Clapton was not necessarily directly linked to those in Croydon, where numerous cats were found decapitated last year, prompting speculation about a cat serial killer or killers.

She told the Hackney Citizen: “What I would recommend is that if you see anyone acting suspiciously around cats or trying to coax cats, to report this and also to take pictures, if you can, as I don’t think the police have got a suspect in these cases and they have been going on for far too long.”

She added: “People loathe the person responsible for this. There is absolutely nothing worse than harming, torturing and killing an innocent animal or an innocent human.

“Whoever did this is vile and a stain on humanity.”