GNR seemingly discounts “human intervention”; municipality doesn’t
Kennels staff at the Vila Franca de Xira municipal pound were faced with what has been described as a “massacre” when they opened the cattery on Sunday morning.
Sixteen cats lay dead, showing injuries that attested to “extreme violence” having been involved.
Police were called immediately; the dead cats were also sent for necropsies, to try and determine what killed them.
For now, it is looking as if dogs also housed in the refuge may have gained access to the cattery.
A GNR source quoted by Público explains that “the door to the cattery was open. If it was closed badly; if someone opened it on purpose or if the dogs managed to get in, is what we are trying to work out”.
Breaking the news of the horror over social media, animal rights group IRA has a different take on what may have happened: “For any canine to gain access to the cattery, it would have had to pass through two doors, with inverted handles and at a time when no staff were present.
“Given that the premises don’t have a video surveillance system, it is hard not to draw the conclusion that this was a criminal act, not an accident”.
The local municipality in a statement sent to Público has also described what it calls “a criminal act”. But in declarations to local paper O Mirante, it went much further:
“The municipality believes that someone entered the premises on the night of Saturday September 28 and opened the cattery and a box with dogs located immediately next to it, bringing the two species into direct confrontation“, says the paper.
“The dogs attacked the cats and it wasn’t until the morning of Sunday September 29, when technicians arrived at the premises, that they found the situation.
“In addition to the 16 cats that died, more than a dozen animals are allegedly missing.
“Whoever entered illegally had a criminal attitude. I’m mortified by what happened. We’re making internal enquiries to find out and we immediately activated all the mechanisms we could,” Manuela Ralha, councillor responsible for animal health, told the paper.
Meanwhile, the People, Animals, Nature (PAN) party in Vila Franca de Xira, has lamented a “shocking tragedy” involving “defenceless beings under public responsibility”.
