Jail men who stole and hurt my beloved cat and left him for dead, says owner

The owner of a pure-bred cat that was stolen by two males on an e-bike in a Cork suburb has called for stricter safeguarding for animals. The 12-year-old family pet was discovered emaciated and with a broken jaw.

On September 30, Tracy Finnegan’s cat, Felix, was taken from outside her home in Blackrock by the two men.

The incident was witnessed by a neighbour, who said the men beckoned the beautiful Persian from his home, before picking him up by his tail and speeding off on the motorised bicycle.

Ms Finnegan said Felix was found abandoned in nearby St Michael’s Cemetery. “I haven’t slept in a week. I’m heartbroken,” said Ms Finnegan.

“We were out every day and night looking for him, and then, at 11.30pm on Tuesday, we got a call from a woman saying her son had found him in St Michael’s Cemetery.

“He was severely injured. We took him to the emergency vet, but they said he wouldn’t survive the anaesthetic, so it was more humane to put him to sleep.”

Ms Finnegan said Felix had been part of her family for more than a decade, having grown up alongside her children.

“He was such a gorgeous, friendly cat. All of the children on the road would’ve played with him. He was like a local celebrity,” she said. “Everyone is just so devastated by this.”

Ms Finnegan said she contacted gardaí, who located CCTV footage of the thieves near the primary care centre in Mahon.

“You can see Felix is limp in the footage, which would indicate he was unconscious,” said Ms Finnegan.

“They [the thieves] must have hit him to stop him from struggling and broke his jaw. Then, with all the attention he was getting, they kept him for a number of days.

“He was so emaciated and dehydrated when we found him, he couldn’t walk.”

Ms Finnegan said the perpetrators should be given a prison sentence.

“This is a level of cruelty you should never inflict on any living thing,” she said.

“These people have no empathy. I will never forgive them, and I will never understand them.

“Dogs have much higher levels of protection, in terms of the law, than cats, which needs to change.

“There should be a prison sentence attached to something like this.”