CAT owners are becoming increasingly disturbed by the number of incidents of cat mutilation in the Cinderford area.

A dead cat was found on the High Street in Cinderford by a member of the public on Friday, March 11th, who reported the discovery to Gloucestershire Police just before 7.30am. The cat had circular marks on it, and police are currently trying to ascertain if it was shot dead. Police were then called shortly before 9am after another cat was found dead with one of its front legs missing in the same area.

Gloucestershire Police are considering that these incidents may be linked to other discoveries of dead cats in the Forest of Dean recently.

One such incident occurred on Monday, March 7th, when a decapitated cat was found in Cinderford. Another incident occurred on Tuesday, March 1st in the same area, where a cat sustained injuries thought to be caused by a pellet; this cat was not seriously injured. On Saturday, February 27th a cat sustained head injuries, again in the Cinderford area, however the local vet confirmed that in this instance, the injury could have been caused by a blunt object such as a car, rather than a pellet from a gun, and the cat was not seriously injured.

This totals five reported incidents involving injured cats in the Cinderford area in the past few weeks, and Gloucestershire Police have received information that this may be part of an initiation test for a local gang of teenagers, and are currently making inquiries into this.

Gloucestershire Police understand that these incidents are deeply disturbing, and are asking the community for any information they have. Anyone with information is urged to call Gloucestershire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers can be called anonymously on 0800 555 111.