A member of the public made the discovery and found the body of the black shorthaired female cat on the front lawn of a house in East Street on Wednesday last week.
Initially, the woman who found it thought it was the body of a small dog and alerted the local dog warden, who identified it as the torso of a cat – minus its head and tail – and informed the RSPCA.
Jim Farr, the RSPCA inspector who is investigating, took the body to a vet for examination and it was confirmed the missing head and tail appeared to be deliberately cut off, and the wounds were not consistent with it being savaged by another animal. The vet could not be sure whether the cat was dead or alive before the attack, though a post mortem examination revealed that it had some internal injuries.
Insp Farr said: 'At best, we could be dealing with a very unpleasant person who found the body of a cat and decided it would be fun to make a macabre spectacle of it by chopping off its head and tail and dumping it on a lawn in a residential area.
'At worst, we could be dealing with someone who executed this poor creature in a sick and deliberate ritual by cutting off its head and tail. Either way, I am keen to discover exactly what happened to this cat and I would urge anyone with information about who is responsible to contact the RSPCA.'
Insp Farr is keen to trace the owner of the cat, which was not micro-chipped and had no other form of identification. She was described as a black female short-haired cat, with tight curls on parts of her body. Anyone with information is urged to contact the RSPCA cruelty and information line on 08705 555999 and leave a message for Insp Farr. All calls will be treated in the strictest confidence.