Hull Live, an online newspaper, is reporting that gangs are trawling through the urban jungle of Hull, UK with hunting dogs looking for wandering domestic cats for their dogs to attack.
In the UK it is called ‘lamping’. The word normally applies to hunting nocturnal animals with high powered lamps. The lamps blind the targeted animals making them vulnerable to attack.
In this distorted and illegal version of an obnoxious pastime, multiple confirmed cat deaths have been reported in Hull.
Posters have been put up to warn cat owners of the dangers of letting their cats go outside unsupervised which is the norm in the UK.
“Cat owners beware. Illegal hunting dogs in operation. Please keep your cats in and accounted for nightly. Please be vigilant for suspicious activity i.e lamping, searching for cats with lights. There have been multiple confirmed deaths in the local area of domestic cats. If you have any information regarding these events or you believe your pet has been a victim of this illegal act please contact the police immediately.”
Comment: it is extraordinary that this sort of criminality should be taking place in Britain. Hull is in the north. They tend like this sort of pastime up there but to prey on cats makes it even more horrendous.
There is a general sense of lawlessness in the UK at present because the police have lost control of the streets. The arrest and conviction rates are abysmal at around 5% of crimes. The criminals know this which encourages them. Moral in the police forces is generally low I am told.
