Cat owners in the South Iceland town of Hveragerði are worried, Vísir reports. The suspicious deaths of cats in the town in August are being investigated, but cat owners complain not enough is being done to catch the killer.
“We get no answers,” says Theodora Ponzi, whose cat appears to have been poisoned. In Stöð 2 television news earlier this month, deputy superintendent in South Iceland Þorgrímur Óli Sigurðsson asserted that cats ought not to run loose outside. There is no city ordinance, however, banning that cats be outside.
According to Theodora, a blue fish fillet was found by her house. “Five cats died last weekend from exactly the same kinds of symptoms. The vet told us the symptoms indicated the presence of antifreeze.” The fillet is believed to have been dipped into antifreeze.
Theodora worries about young children who play outside, should they come across poisonous food: “Last Thursday, rat poison was placed in our neighbor’s yard across the street,” she recounts. When his cat stopped breathing after eating something in the yard, and showed other signs of having been poisoned, the owner responded quickly by administering baking soda and milk. Luckily, the cat was saved.
“Does a child have to get sick for the police to take this seriously?” Theodora asks. She called the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority, where she was told it only takes half a teaspoon of antifreeze to kill a cat and make a child seriously ill.
