Merthyr man 'beside himself' at cat savaging

The cat's dead body was thrown in bushes after the attack

A man has spoken of the horror he lived through when he discovered CCTV footage of his cat being mauled to death by a dog.

The 42-year old from Merthyr Tydfil said he was "beside himself" after witnessing the attack on Sully the cat.

Footage shows two teenagers setting the dog on his beloved pet on Gwaelodygarth Lane in Merthyr Tydfil in May.

The boys, aged 15 and 17, were sentenced to a 12-month referral order to the youth offending team.

The offenders were also banned by Merthyr Youth Court from keeping animals for 10 years and ordered to pay £300 costs each, as well as £20 victim surcharge. They admitted causing unnecessary suffering to the cat.

Sully was "family", his owner said

The RSPCA said the attack was "deeply sinister".

Sully's owner, who did not want to be named, said the 13-year-old grey Bengal type cat had been missing for 48 hours before he decided to check the footage.

"It was unusual for him to be gone that long," he said.

His 13-year old son grew up with the cat, who would sleep on the boy's bed every night, he said.

The footage showed one of the teenagers holding the dog by the collar, before being released to chase and maul the cat to death.

"I was crying and screaming: 'run run run!'," Sully's owner said of the moment he saw the attack on camera.

The offenders tossed Sully's dead body in bushes, from where his owner later retrieved him.

"He wasn't just a pet. He was family," the man said.

The dog has been taken into RSPCA care until he is ready for re-homing, according to the RSPCA.

"It is frightening to think two children would set out to do something so deliberately cruel. It appears the dog had been trained to kill like this," RSPCA inspector Gemma Cooper said.