A TEENAGE girl says she is devastated after watching her cat being savagely killed by two dogs outside her home in Worcester.
Video footage captured by a doorbell camera shows a family’s pet cat, Cleo, being killed by two Staffordshire Bull Terriers on the driveway of their home in Ash Avenue, Brickfields, while the dogs’ owner tries to stop them.
The same footage then shows the dogs’ owner, a man, apologising to distraught mother-and-daughter Sharon Boalch and Shakira Jefferies after a neighbour had called to tell them about the attack.
WARNING: This video contains footage which some people may find upsetting.
Shakira, 16, saw the dogs attacking the cat and dragging her into Brickfields Park but didn’t realise the victim was her Cleo until too late.
She said: “I was in the front room as it was happening. I didn’t realise it was Cleo until a neighbour knocked on the door and asked if our cat was black and white.
“I collapsed on the floor screaming. I wish I’d helped her. I’d have rather been injured by the dogs than to lose my cat.
“My mind keeps going back to seeing her dead on the ground. I haven’t slept in days and I can’t eat. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did. I just want my cat back."
Mrs Boalch, aged 50, said: “My daughter could hear all this commotion. She ran outside and saw what happened and came running to me in the back garden, screaming.
“I was sat on the doorstep crying and I had my daughter in my arms. It was awful. I cried all night. I can’t get it out of my head. And the fact that it happened on my drive, it’s disturbing.”
Mrs Boalch claims the owner of the dogs said he would take Cleo to a vet but she said the family have not heard anything since and that, after contacting the vets in the area, none reported having Cleo brought in.
She said they don’t know where Cleo’s body has been left and that the dogs’ owner left before they thought to ask him.
“I was in such a mess I didn’t realise she was dead, I presumed she was badly injured. It all happened so quickly,” she said.
“We can’t even bury her to say goodbye. We are devastated and my daughter won’t stop crying. We will never get closure.”
Mrs Boalch added: “The footage clearly shows the dogs were out of control and going wild. These were big dogs. They should be muzzled.”
Shakira’s step-dad, Ian, watched the footage following the attack and said the dogs were off their lead and jumped onto Cleo unprovoked.
"She didn’t have a chance. She was torn into pieces," he said.
Mr Boalch, aged 56, added: “The owner came around the corner and booted one dog and picked up the one with the cat in its mouth. He took it around the corner into the park. It was dead by then.
"My wife was too distraught. She didn’t get any details from this man.
“It’s devastating for our daughter. The cat used to sleep in her room. It’ll take her a while to get over this.
“I am so angry. I’d like to see him prosecuted. Any dog that is capable of doing that should be muzzled. Once they’ve done it once they have that lust for blood and will do it again, and next time it could be a child.”
The attack, which happened on Thursday June 20, has been reported to the police and the incident will be investigated.
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