Editorial

Witnessing a cat soaked in petrol and set on fire several years ago shocked a little girl but in those days such incidents went unreported. What was a cat's life worth when people were being attacked for their political beliefs in the 1980s?

Fast forward three decades and that same girl, now a feeder in her 30s, comes face to face with a similar horrific incident. This time, the cat is covered in carpenter's glue and a three-inch, PVC roughly-sawn pipe is forced round its neck like a collar of death.

Just imagine how long the poor creature must have struggled with its paws in vain to remove the pipe that was slicing through its skin and preventing it from eating and drinking. It was in such pain and in such a state it had to be put down. If the perpetrators wanted to get rid of the cat or felt it was a nuisance did they have to be so cruel?

One or two people commenting on timesofmalta.com, stunned by this monstrosity, were so incredulous they hoped this was just a case of curiosity killed the cat. But the Animal Welfare Department has information that, if confirmed, proves there's a serial cat killer at large in the vicinity of STMicroelectronics with a penchant for getting cats by the scruff of the neck. It's no coincidence that the day after this incident, the department was called in to rescue another terrified feline that was going around with a wire knotted in a hangman's noose around its neck.

The list goes on in varying degrees, from sheer callousness to heartless abandonment, highlighted recently by the story of the beautiful husky dog found balanced on a tiny ledge, two storeys below a Żurrieq cliff with a 30-foot rope tied around its neck. Then, a week later, a pure German Shepherd was rescued from a cave off Qala, accessible by sea. It was probably thrown away like garbage and it managed to swim ashore and seek shelter in the cave.

According to the Animal Welfare Act, offenders face a maximum prison sentence of one year, a fine of between €233 and €46,587, or both. In the UK, the fine is a maximum of €5,786 and six months imprisonment.

Comparatively, the law in Malta is harsher on paper than the UK's but how many convictions have taken place and what sort of punishment was imposed?

According to a recent parliamentary question, in the first six months of this year the police arraigned five persons on charges of cruelty to animals. All the cases are still pending.

There are other cases still in the investigation stage, such as that of Freddie Fenech, founder of the Association for Abandoned Animals. His case surfaced in April when five helpers filed a police report accusing Mr Fenech of siphoning off funds, being cruel to animals and making threats.

The people in general and the helpers in particular have a right to know what is going on. The police must explain what is happening. Otherwise why bother reporting offences to them?

More basic education on animal rights is crucial but until then the court and the authorities need to send a strong message that society will not tolerate cruelty to animals.

As St Francis of Assisi said: "If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men".