AL-CAT-RAZ: Example of the enclosures the company provides to pet owners and the firm’s team (bottom left)
LONDON – A London Company has had an “unprecedented” number of inquiries from south London customers to to have outdoor enclosures for their cats installed following fears over the “Croydon Cat Killer”, said the firm’s bosses.
Simon and Eve Davies run ProtectaPet which offers “cat containment solutions” in feline lovers’ gardens preventing their pets from escaping while enjoying the outdoors.
Simon, 33, said a quarter of their business is now concentrated on the south of the capital along, where many of bodies of cats confirmed to be mutilated at the hands of a human have been found.
“We are having quite a few queries from owners saying they are scared for their cat,” said Simon, who is based at the company’s headquarters in Stoke-on-Trent.
“I’m struggling to clear my emails as we’ve had an unprecedented demand in enquiries.
“This time of year tends to be busy but I’ve noticed a high amount are from south London.
“The ‘Croydon Cat Killer’ is definitely something people are worried about”.
An example of one of the company’s free standing enclosures
Since the news of the first decapitated cat bodies were found in Croydon back in October, Simon thinks they have installed between 15 and 20 systems in south London gardens, with at least three in the borough.
The couple, who have two cats of their own, started their business five years ago when another of their cats, Lola, was killed after being hit by a car.
Simon began constructing makeshift fences for friends to prevent their cats from jumping over fences “allowing cats to experience the outdoors without many of the risks associated with it”.
Since then, the client base has sky rocketed, with his staff travelling across the country to meet demand.
Police believed up to eight cats found all across London have been mutilated by the same person.
An RSPCA approved vet said they were killed using “blunt force trauma” and other injuries inflicted with a “sharp object”.
Reports of more cats being found with similar injuries in Kingston upon Thames and Frimley have also appeared this week, according to South Norwood Animal Rescue and Liberty (SNARL), who are helping Metropolitan Police and the RSPCA with enquiries.
Protection added to the top of the fence in a garden
After reading reports on the investigation, Simon said the cases linked to the so-named Croydon Cat Killer are “particularly bad”.
“We’ve heard of cats being taken by somebody and never found in Ipswich last year,” he said.
“But the Croydon case is particularly bad as it’s on a bigger scale and there’s something really gruesome going on”.
The Metropolitan Police are still investigating these cases.
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