Dog owners slapped with police notice after string of cat attacks in Northampton

Northampton dog owners have been issued with a Community Protection Warning Notice (CPW) by police, after neighbours voiced their fear and outrage about cat attacks in the Kingsthorpe area.

A nine-month old kitten called Luna was brutally mauled by two unattended dogs in Obelisk Rise on July 12. The attack, which was captured on CCTV, left the young feline with fatal injuries.

Eyewitnesses to the attack told the Chronicle & Echo that it took four adults to pry the dogs - described as pugs - away from Luna and the dogs’ owner was allegedly nowhere to be seen during the attack.

Witness, Francis Boddington, 74, said: “The noise they made when they were attacking her, it was horrifying. They were like pack animals. It made me feel sick.

“There were two ladies shaking like leaves whilst the dogs were just careering everywhere.”

Disturbing CCTV footage shows two unleashed dogs - one black and one tan - darting across the road and jumping garden walls in pursuit of Luna - a black kitten. Luna attempted to escape by scrambling up a tree but fell down, resulting in her attack.

Luna was taken to Rhodes Veterinary Surgery, where she passed away from her injuries ten days later on Friday, July 22. Her owner told this newspaper that she - and her children - were left “traumatised” and “devastated” by the attack.

Neighbours in the Obelisk area alleged this was not an isolated incident with one resident claiming the same two unsupervised dogs had been “running riot” since September 2021, targeting other pet cats in the street.

Other residents told this newspaper they refuse to let their cats outside and fear for their young children’s safety.

The Northamptonshire Neighbourhood Policing Team have now served the owners of the dogs with a CPW notice, which will be valid until July 30, 2023.

The notice requires the dog owners to have control of their dogs at all times - keeping them on a lead and muzzle - in any public place, street or highway that the public has access to in Northampton.

A spokeswoman for Northamptonshire Police added: “Any new incidents will also be treated as a breach of their CPW.”