The elderly cat’s owner is said to have been left “horrified and in shock” after neighbours who witnessed the “macabre scenario” told her that her “docile” pet, 10-year-old Camila, had been strangled and hung in full public view.
Coimbra cat charity Gatos Urbanos, who accompanied the cat’s owner to a PSP police station to press charges, said “in this case it’s not just animal abuse; there is an exhibition of cruelty.”
Speaking to newspaper Jornal de Notícias Jorge Gouveia Monteiro, the head of the association, said “there is a strong indication of who did this, going on the type of material used and the location of the crime.”
He added that there is a “strong revolt” of people in that area, where other animals have gone missing.
In a statement Gatos Urbanos confirmed criminal charges had been made after the “cruel and cowardly” act against a “fragile, peaceful and defenceless animal” and which is “receiving a general conviction among citizens who send us messages of indignation and repulsion.”
“We cannot allow and will not allow our city, which generates acts of sharing, citizenship and kindness, to be marred by acts of revolting cruelty like strangling an animal and displaying it by hanging it on a stick. Whoever did this must be promptly tried, convicted and, if possible, treated and reinserted [to society].”
The association went on to say that it “expresses deep sorrow over the shocking death of a peaceful and serene animal” and offers its “full solidarity with the cat’s owner and with all those who have expressed their revulsion at such acts of this type of violence and shamefulness.”
A public petition has also been launched to get justice for Camila the cat.