Irish animal charity issues warning over midnight 'cat-killing gangs'
Volunteer group Cat Action Trust Cork took to social media on Saturday to issue the safety alert as they warned that "cat-killing gangs are going around at midnight" in the Glen area on Cork's northside, "looking for cats to kill with packs of dogs again."
The warning comes just months after Gardai in Cork launched an investigation into claims that a gang of youths were handing live cats over to be savaged by dogs. The disturbing incidents allegedly occurred in the Mahon area in March and April of this year.
Speaking to Neil Prendeville on Red FM in early April, Mahon resident Louise Brazier-Graf said the attacks began a few weeks previously when a large group of boys used an elderly, stray cat as bait in a dog fight.
'It was a Wednesday evening, around 8-8:30, and I went to close my windows and there was this commotion going on outside,' she said. 'There was a huge group of boys, about 10 groups of boys, two grey [...] lurches.
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'They actually handed this poor, defenseless cat to the lurches.
'My son and I ran outside, screamed at them, got them to go away, but the two dogs ravaged the cat, and I watched the poor animal die.
"It's one of the most horrific things that I've ever actually had to witness.'
Louise continued: "And then last night's one was a neighbour's cat, and it was killed outside the front of its house after a dog was set on it.
'I heard the commotion, I heard the cat screaming, but of course, by the time we got there, he was done.
'The two youths just ran away and my son and another neighbour chased the dog. They tried to catch him to keep the dog and put him in with the pound or whatever, but they couldn't catch him.
Gardai confirmed at the time that they "received reports of suspected animal cruelty that occurred in the Mahon area of Cork City on the 8th of April 2025," and that "Enquiries are ongoing.'
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