A striking number of cats have been disappearing recently in the Krakeel district in Hoogeveen. Six of them were found dead in the Hoogeveensche Vaart. Local residents and the animal ambulance do not trust it.
The first report of a dead cat was received a few weeks ago by Stichting Dierenambulance Hoogeveen. “When you take that cat to the owner and you see the sadness of the people who have to miss their cat, you don’t forget that. There were also two small children,” says Tina Gosink of the animal ambulance.
Gosink took the kitten out of the water himself. According to her, the animal died under suspicious circumstances. “If an animal normally drowns, it is completely bloated, it swells completely because of all the water it ingests. And that was not the case with this cat.”
Local resident Marijke Eschbach also fished a cat out of the water a few weeks ago. That also looked suspicious, she says. “This cat was still completely intact and beautiful, so I assume that it was simply dead before it ended up in the canal. And that it was not under water for very long.”
Meanwhile, messages of missing cats are flooding in on the Facebook page Missing Pets Hoogeveen and Surroundings. There are already more than twenty. And they all come from the Krakeel district. Gosink thinks there is malicious intent. “One of the cats had stretch marks around its neck. It was probably hung beforehand and then thrown into the water.”
On Monday, the Hoogeveen Animal Ambulance Foundation will launch a search operation. Gosink hopes that the police will take action quickly, but first reports must be filed. “We will search along the entire canal to see if we find any more dead cats. If so, the owners can report it,” she concludes.