An 81-year-old resident of Santa Luċija had to scare off a pack of four ferocious dogs which were looking for cats to attack in her garden.

The dogs have been roaming the Santa Luċija streets at night for the last year or so and are said to have killed about six cats since the Christmas holidays.

Joyce Falzon, who last year found her year-old cat, Tiger, dead outside her driveway mauled by the pack of mongrel hounds, got the fright of her life when she was recently woken up at 2.30am by raucous noise coming from her garden.

I peeked from the kitchen door and saw four dogs barking. They had jumped the gate and were sniffing around for cats

“I peeked from the kitchen door and saw four dogs barking. They had jumped the gate into the garden and were sniffing around for cats.

“I immediately went out in my dressing gown and bedroom socks in the freezing cold and started shouting and flailing my hands to scare them away,” said Ms Falzon.

The octogenarian said that she and her husband, 85, have since not slept at night. “We are all the time worried that they will come again in the middle of the night.”

Their children are also extremely anxious and worried as they believe the dogs could easily have attacked their elderly mother.

Santa Luċija residents have long been feeling threatened by this pack of dogs, none of which wears a collar.

Recently Times of Malta reported that Christmas festivities had been spoilt for Edwina Muscat Drago when her 12-year-old beloved pet cat, Lashes, was mauled to death by the pack on her front porch one night.

Neighbour Harry Saliba said he knows of about six cats that have been mauled since the Christmas holidays.

“A couple of days ago I just followed the barking and managed to foil an attack on a poor cat,” Mr Saliba said.

He said he was concerned about elderly people walking their dogs in the evening, as a pack could easily attack a vulnerable person.

Residents say the dogs only come out at night from the environs of the Garnaw valley and they can hear the howling and barking.

They say that although they do not have collars, they appear to be well fed.

Santa Luċija mayor Fredrick Cutajar said the local council did not have the means to catch the pack of dogs but would be addressing the issue during a council meeting.

“We will write to the Animal Welfare Department because we need someone on the beat all night. You never see these dogs during the day.”

He said he could empathise with the residents because he has “a fear of dogs” himself.

“I know what a trauma it can be because even though I am a dog lover, I have a fear of dogs, ever since I was bitten by one,” Mr Cutajar said.