A distraught Swieqi resident yesterday sent us a photo of the remains of SmokeyJoe – the family cat – after it was mauled and killed by a pack of three large dogs.
“The dogs have been running around killing cats in the area for one and a half years, and the SPCA seem unable to catch them,” his bereaved owners said. “This must be stopped now. One of the dogs is white with black patches, one brown and one black… They seem to run as a pack…”
The assault took place outside a private residence in a busy part of Swieqi at 5.15pm on Monday evening, within full view of passers-by. While two of the dogs are understood to be strays, the third (brown) wears a collar and is believed to be a household pet given altogether too much room by roam by its owners. All three dogs are described as medium-sized to large pointers (“tal-kacca”), and their territory seems to extend from Swieqi to L-Ibrag and also parts of San Gwann.
SmokeyJoe is not the first cat to be killed by the Swieqi pack. In January 2008, a certain Iris Mallia from L-Ibrag described a similar experience in a letter to The Times. On this occasion the victim was 14-year-old Oliver, who was carried off in one of the dogs’ jaws and later found dead. Ms Mallia’s identikit points towards the same elusive killers: “two black dogs with white patches, that look like hunting dogs…”
A spokesman for the Swieqi local council yesterday confirmed that Monday’s incident was but one of several: “Yes, we have received a number of such reports, mostly in the past year. When it happens we immediately pass them on to the police,” the spokesman said, adding that the police are largely powerless to intervene, as no criminal charges can be brought against an animal. “We have also contacted animal sanctuaries and voluntary organisations to come and do something about these dogs. But the answer has always been the same. They are always full-up…”
At present there is no national dog pound on the island, and the job of housing strays theoretically falls to the SPCA – which benefits from an annual state subsidy – or to a number of purely voluntary groups such as Island Sanctuary and the Abandoned Animals Association, neither of which is equipped to deal with problems of this nature.
In August 2006, after a petition numbering 40,000 signatures was presented in parliament, then Environment Minister George Pullicino promised an Animal Welfare Centre in Ta’ Qali, as well as to subsidise the voluntary animal ambulance service offered by the Animal Ambulance Response Team. In November that year a Foundation was set up for this purpose; but 17 months and one election later, no such centre has yet materialised.