Regrettably, Malta is no stranger to animal cruelty. Although more people than ever before now have family pets and are careful and loving owners, there are still far too many individuals for whom animals and other living species are an expendable and lesser breed.

However, in the last three years, animal cruelty has taken a shocking form in Mosta, which has been the target of a number of macabre and brutal acts of animal killings involving cats and dogs.

The latest incident was of a cat and a dog found hanged from a cross on the Mosta church parvis. The note found inside the cat and divulged to this newspaper shows there is more at stake here than animal cruelty. The perpetrator is clearly a threat to society.

The police have been in possession of similar notes found on the slaughtered animals since 2011. They have therefore known for years that they are dealing not just with someone with a sadistic trait but with an individual with serious psychological problems and who is a danger to both society and animals society.

The content of these notes should have been released to the public by the police itself long ago not just because society needs to be alerted but also to ensure the fullest possible public co-operation in apprehending the culprit.

The revelations made in the letters raise two very serious issues: firstly, that the perpetrator is not acting alone but probably engaging the services of others; secondly, that he identifies individuals by name and holds them responsible for his predicament. This transcends animal cruelty.

The author of the letters seems like a paranoid schizophrenic obsessed with suffering and torment. His constant references to saints, to hell, to a ‘demon of a woman’, to being neglected by God, provide a macabre religious backdrop to this tragic and dangerous affair.

That the latest incident occurred only a block away from the Mosta police station itself and in full view of five cameras, does not put people’s mind at ease.

The release by the police of footage from CCTV cameras operating in the area, although rather belatedly, was a step in the right direction.

Mosta mayor Shirley Farrugia has repeatedly called on the Commissioner of Police to release any available footage of the perpetrator.

She said she has been in regular touch with the police since 2012 and passed on any information she had obtained from local residents. But it appears the last time the police contacted her was merely to ask her who had leaked CCTV footage from one of the cameras to the media. While one can understand possible police reluctance to encourage any voyeuristic curiosity in viewing such gruesome acts, the issue of public security should be the most overriding consideration.

The police may also want to avoid unnecessary panic, but their silence does not put people’s minds at rest.

Inversely, by trying, unsuccessfully to stem the release of information, they care helping to create a distorted picture and raise unnecessary speculation.

People want to know that the police are doing their best to protect them and to catch the culprit.

If the police show more confidence in people, by being more forthright with their information, people would be more than willing to show more confidence back.