Strange man snatches elderly cat from outside its home

By Grace Chapel and Faye Mayern via SWNS

This is the shocking moment an elderly cat is snatched by an unknown man and carried away from the front porch of a home.

Padstow, 18, was grabbed by the young man dressed in an all-black tracksuit at 1.30 am on Tuesday (July 9) in the sleepy village of Wivenhoe, Essex.

The video shows the person seizing Padstow up by the scruff of his neck and carrying him across the front garden of Vanessa Potter and Liz Delaney.

Potter, 54, said that people were "hoping for the best but fearing the worst" as Padstow has not been seen since.

She lives round the corner from Padstow's owners Naomi and Christian Winter, who have had the cat since he was a kitten, and Padstow is a frequent visitor to her garden.

Potter said: "It has shocked so many people that someone can treat an animal like that. I can't describe the upset.

"The real cruelty and willingness to do harm to an animal is beyond belief.

"Padstow's owners came and got him on Monday evening to take him home and feed him - he's a wanderer.

"He came back at 8 pm and we saw him go into his plastic cat shelter.

"When Liz turned on her phone at 7 am the following day, Naomi had said Padstow hadn't come home.

"We then saw on our camera footage that he had been taken.

"It was clearly someone who knew everyone living nearby has a Ring doorbell camera as you can see in the footage they bent down to hide from it.

"But they didn't know we had a ‘Padstow cam’ and so we caught the whole thing. We can’t watch the footage with the sound on because it's so distressing.

"We live less than 5 meters from the river and we're desperately trying to find out what happened to him - we're even trying to clean the sound out from the cameras to see if he was thrown in the river."

Known as a local celebrity, residents of the town are often seen talking to Padstow, stroking him or giving him treats.

Last night (July 9), more than 50 villages rallied together to search for the feline in a search party, scouring the river, marshland and looking through bins.

Potter said: "We can't find him or any evidence of him. He is very vocal and I think we would have heard him. It's devastating.

"The village has one road in and one road out and we know no cars came in or out in that hour period.

"We can only assume that the person was on foot and knew the village.

"We pride ourselves on being friendly and a safe place to live – it's a testament to how shocked and upset everybody is. Everyone loves him."

Naomi Winter, Padstow's owner, said: "We’re truly touched that so many people love our furry old boy as much as we do and want to see his safe return.

"All we desperately care about is getting Padstow back to where he belongs."

Padstow's owners are offering a substantial reward for the return of Padstow or any information that leads to a prosecution for animal cruelty.

Essex Police have been contacted for comment.

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