Max the eight-year-old tabby cat went missing last week – five days before his owners made the horrifying discovery
Max liked to hang out in the flat complex’s shared gardens(Image: Submitted)
A police investigation is underway after a missing cat’s dismembered tail was posted through its owners’ letterbox. A distressed Hull couple, who asked to be identified by their first names only, had been looking for their eight-year-old tabby cat Max since he went missing last Monday (September 14). On Saturday, Lisa left her flat to check the mail to discover Max’s distinctive white-tipped tail had been placed inside their mailbox for them to find.
Lisa and her partner Louise are now hoping someone will come forward with information that leads to Max’s whereabouts and gives them answers about what happened to him. They say they are now living in fear in their flat.
Lisa said: “We last saw Max on Monday at about 12pm. Louise picked him up and put him in the garden, because he loves sitting in there. We got home about 4pm and he wasn’t near the house, and we thought he must’ve gone missing.” Max had previously gone missing after escaping through a window shortly after the couple moved into their flat. That time, he was missing for five days before he eventually came home. The pair put posts on Facebook appealing for information about sightings of Max.
“There was no sign of him, and it was not like him,” Lisa said. “Since he went missing, he sits in the shared gardens behind the flat and he doesn’t venture far. I thought he would be back home soon.” But on Saturday, Lisa made the horrific discovery that changed the narrative of Max’s disappearance and sparked panic.
“I went out to check the post as I was waiting for a parcel to come through. I opened the letter box and I saw it. I just screamed. It’s distinctive. He is a tabby and he had a white tip on his tail. It’s definitely his. The only thing I could find was a poo bag from the dog – I put it straight into the bag, my brain knew I had to preserve it.” Max’s body has still yet to be found but Lisa and Louise said police have now sent the tail away for forensic testing.
“We desperately need to know if it was done post mortem because I have this image in my head that it was done while he was still alive,” Louise said. “We can’t thank the police enough. The DSI even came out and finger printed the letterbox. The tail has gone to a forensic expert in Liverpool to look for DNA and to test how it was removed.”
Louise rescued Max five years ago when he was three years old. “He was such a lovely boy, so affectionate. He was so intuitive and friendly. He used to sit out the front and a little girl would come past on the way to school and shout for him.
“He was daft as a brush, he loved people, especially men. He could have been grabbed easily. Neighbours have said we’ve probably saved cats lives now by getting the word out there. We’ve got another little cat and we’ve sent her off to live with friends because we can’t have her in the house. We just want justice for Max. We just want his body back, we want closure, and we want whoever did this locked up.”
A Humberside Police spokesperson said: “Officers were called to reports of a cat’s tail being pushed through the letterbox of an address on Appleton Road in Hull at around 12.30pm on Saturday 19 September. Officers attended the scene and an investigation was launched in an attempt to establish the full circumstances leading up to the incident, and officers are in contact with relevant partner organisations. Anyone with any information that may assist with our investigation, including the whereabouts and welfare of the cat, is asked to call our non-emergency number 101 quoting reference 26*132718.”
Police also issued a poster appealing for information, stating that the incident is thought to have happened between 7pm on Friday, September 28 and 10.30am on Saturday, September 19. Anyone with CCTV or information should call 101 quoting the above reference number.
The couple, who are due to get married next month, are now considering moving flats as they do not know who took Max – or whether they will strike again. Lisa said: “We are supposed to be getting married in a couple of weeks and we don’t know what to do. We feel like it’s a hate crime. It’s awful to know we are not safe. Last night we barricaded our bedroom door just because we didn’t feel safe. We are living in fear. We feel threatened and we can’t leave the house.
“We’ve been planning the wedding for a long time. It’s in Scotland everything is paid for. People are saying to us, if you don’t do it, this person has won. And Maxi wouldn’t want that for us. We’ll still have the ceremony. I want to still marry her. I still want that ring. I want to be married, but I don’t want to celebrate. We want to take some time and take our memories of Max with us.”
Lisa and Louise are also considering offering a reward for anyone who goes to the police with information that leads to an arrest and conviction. They plan to hold a candlelight vigil for Max that will have a yellow theme, as his favourite blanket was yellow. “We are so thankful to everybody. We’d like to invite everyone to get together to have a memorial for him. I just want to do something nice for him.”
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