Hong Kong police investigate suspected cat mutilation and poisoning

Hung Hom shop cat dies after owner finds it with tail nearly severed

Hong Kong police have launched an investigation after a Hung Hom shop cat was found with its tail nearly severed and its lips turning purple before dying at a veterinary clinic on Sunday afternoon.

A 39-year-old woman, who operates a funeral services shop on Lo Lung Hang Street, reported to police at 3.30pm that her two-year-old cat appeared to have been injured and poisoned.

She rushed the male domestic short-haired tabby to a pet clinic, where it later died.

Police officers and staff from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals inspected the scene and removed the body for examination.

The cat had reportedly been raised at the shop since birth. It returned to the premises visibly wounded shortly before 3pm, with its tail nearly severed and its mouth discoloured.