Power of social media destroys the ratings of hotel where kitten is allegedly bludgeoned to death

Hotel’s Facebook page reduced to one star rating on the back of this story. It is alleged (I am playing safe) that a kitten, feral or stray, wandered into the kitten of a large hotel in North Wales, UK. The hotel is called the Royal Oak Hotel. The location: Betws-Y-Coed.

The kitten was looking for food. He/she became anxious and peed. This may of happened because hotel staff were terrifying the cat. This is likely because the staff then shoved the kitten into a plastic bag (indicating not feral – and see below) and rather than taking the kitten outside and releasing him or calling the RSPCA to collect him, they beat the cat to death with a kitchen rolling pin and bashed him against a wall. A truly brutal and unnecessary killing.

I am unsure how the news of the killing got out because the hotel on the FB page deny everything and say the kitten was killed humanely in line with the fact that the kitten was “vermin”. According to the management this label permitted them to kill the kitten. Rubbish, it does not and stray cats are positively not vermin. Where is the body of the kitten? It would prove cruelty.

On the basis that the allegations are true which is likely, the hotel management are spinning a web of lies to cover up a clear case of animal cruelty and a crime. The hotel manager said that he did not believe that the staff had broken the law. I disagree as do thousands of others. They claim the cat was killed humanely but fail to tell us how they achieved that.

The RSPCA have investigated at the hotel but no one has been charged. Have they demanded to see the kitten’s body? If so what was the response?

The current failure of the authorities is contrasted by the actions of the public. The public have acted in a brilliant way. They have visited the hotel’s Facebook page and give a one star rating. Over 1,800 (and increasing) have given a one star rating. This must be a vote of protest against the hotel. I invite readers of this post to do the same (update: A few days later and their FB page appears to have been removed – surprised?).

Heidi Robinson comments on the hotel’s FB page:

“If your staff kill a defenceless, starving kitten the least you can expect from the owner would be to at least sack the people involved and publicly show that they had no part in it, instead they defend those who committed such a vile act, they’d probably have done the same thing themselves. I hope your business is destroyed, remember the woman who put a cat in a bin….. remember a thing called the internet? Her life was made a living hell because of what she did and the power of the net and she didn’t even kill a cat!”

Update: In a follow up story online we are told that two staff have been sacked for failing to follow company procedures. I hope this leads to a prosecution. Please God that it will. Also a local woman, Mari Martin Matthews, was looking after the cat. This was a domestic cat. She named her Cali. Cali was a tabby-and-white.

Pam Fioretti said:

“The owner lied, condoned, defended, and covered up for the vile scum who tortured the kitten, and simply moved them. He’s as bad as they are, and if his businesses suffer for this, it’s well deserved. The whole sordid fiasco was horrific to read, and entirely unnecessary.”

Shena Louise has started an online petition: Justice for Kitten beaten to death by staff at The Royal Oak Hotel in Betwys-y-Coed…

She says that the hotel management claim the staff killed the cat humanely but the only person who can achieve that is a veterinarian. Correct, well said Shena. She is demanding that the RSPCA prosecute the perpetrators. As I have said they could have handed the kitten to the RSPCA or a local shelter. There was no need to carry out this vile and brutal killing causing unnecessary suffering.

As at the date of this post the petition has almost 48,000 signatures. The target is 50,000 (upgraded to 75,000 as signatures have surpassed 52,000). This illustrates the feelings of the public.