A poster with details of the reward by the Malta Cat Club.

The Mosta local council is considering offering a reward to catch the cat killer, following the tenth incident on Wednesday.

Mosta mayor Shirley Farrugia said the council was ready to add to the reward fund already being offered by the Cat Club Malta after two crucified felines were found hanging from a tree, close to the former Flower Power garden centre.

“It’s the least we can do – short of putting up a camera in every corner – but we are waiting for the go-ahead from police as we do not want to hinder their investigations in any way,” she said. The series of gruesome killings date back to 2011 with Mosta always being the centre of crime scene. Dr Farrugia said the council had offered all its help. “I am getting a lot of flak for this, but it is not in our remit – the public has to understand that this is a police case and there’s only so much we can do.”

The council has been approached by a group of volunteers wanting to help with patrolling around the 16th of the month, when the killer usually strikes.

“But once again, we referred them to the police, as having a lot of people in the area can act as a deterrent and the killer might go into hiding – which is not what the police want,” she said.

Meanwhile, a police spokesman said that regular patrols were being conducted in the Mosta area, particularly around the middle of every month. He said officers had been staking out parts of the locality deemed possible targets from the early hours of Wednesday.

Nevertheless, two crucified cats were found hanging from a tree near the former garden centre that day.

The police made a public appeal for information. It also expressed confidence that its investigation into the case, which began when two crucified puppies were found in 2011, would soon prove fruitful.

The Island Sanctuary Association condemned the atrocities, saying it had so far “kept its peace”. It said that if this criminal was doing it to gain attention and notoriety, it would have been counterproductive to do otherwise.