Cats go missing in Valhalla neighbourhoods
“It is a sad affair and I sincerely hope the culprits will get caught soon.”
A resident from Centurion was finally reunited with his missing cat which had been gone since June last year.
However, if reports on social media are to be believed, Valhalla resident Maartin Coetzee (26) is not the only one in his area struggling with missing cats.
“I had five cats, a mother, Camo, and her four kittens,” he told Rekord.
“Lunar, one of the kittens, went missing first in June last year. Then followed Camo and Lunar’s brother, Greystone, a month later. I reported it on Facebook and since then never stopped searching for them.”
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He said more residents responded this week and reported that their cats had also gone missing recently.
“A pet shelter replied to my post. It transpired that three of my cats and Lunar were dropped off at the shelter and in someone’s care who was prepared to give him back to me.
“Later Camo and Greystone were dropped off at the shelter. Camo was put down due to an illness that I had been aware of.
“Greystone, however, ran away when they tried to catch him. He is still missing.”
He said the shelter related that the cats had been noticed in the area of Mall@Reds.
“People there noticed that my cats were tame and well-looked after and thought they might belong to someone. And thus took them to the pet shelter.
“I hope to spot Greystone in that area,” Coetzee added, “the other two kittens, Onyx and Kaito, are still okay”.
Coetzee said Onyx, however, came home with an air rifle wound a while ago.
He also noted that the mall was about 8km from his home in Valhalla and that his cats never roamed that far away from his residence.
“I believe some residents apprehend cats in the neighbourhood and simply get rid of them by driving somewhere and dropping them off hoping they would never return.
“It is a sad affair and I sincerely hope the culprits will get caught soon.”
He said his cats had not been microchipped, and he has not reported the incidents anywhere else.
According to Alice Diogo, a volunteer at the Centurion SPCA, she was aware of complaints of residents in Vahalla that their cats have been going missing and it seems as if these culprits are active again.
“I have also heard of cases in Brooklyn, however, had not been able to verify any of the incidents yet,” she said.
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