CATS have been disappearing from a Flintshire village in mysterious circumstances.
Pet owners in Gwernaffield have been left heartbroken after almost a dozen cats vanished without trace.
Kelly Gray, 25, has lost two cats in the past six weeks and her neighbour Diana Griffiths has seen eight of her beloved cats disappear.
The most recent incident occurred on Saturday night when Kelly’s beloved moggy Tyson, two, did not return home.
Kelly, who lives with her mum Val at The Links, said: “I went out to call him and he didn’t come, which is unusual for him. I went to find him and I could hear him crying - I thought he was stuck up a tree.”
Bizarrely, Kelly found Tyson locked in a metal trap in someone’s garden in the village.
She said: “It was a humane trap so fortunately I got him back safe, but he was quite distressed and he’s not been the same since, he won’t go outside now.”
After reporting the incident to North Wales Police Kelly was told by officers the trap was left out to capture squirrels.
Six weeks ago her pedigree British blue Nikita, six, also vanished and has not been seen since.
And in Easter 2010 her mum’s cat Tum went missing from their home, but turned up five days later 10 miles away in Ruthin. He had been handed in to a vet.
After asking around the village Kelly discovered she and her mum were not the only ones to see their pets disappear.
She added: “I got speaking to a neighbour and she has lost eight cats in suspicious circumstances.
“It seems that cats are just going missing unexplainably.
“Obviously when you have cats you have to expect that one day you could lose one on the road if it gets run over, but to know that so many have gone missing is very suspicious.
“I am heartbroken about mine and it makes it worse to think they might have been taken from me rather than just wandered off to live in a new home or something.”
Neighbour Diane has lived at the property for 19 years and has seen eight of her cats disappear.
The first was in 1995, when three disappeared in the space of two weeks and the most recent was three years ago when her beloved moggy Rosie vanished without trace.
Another of her cats has also returned home with its whiskers cut off.
She said: “I know of other people in the village who have had their cats go missing too. There is definitely a catnapper out there. It is very scary for cat owners.”
A spokesman for North Wales Police said: “We can confirm that the incident was reported to us and the cat was found in a cage in a garden, fortunately it was unharmed.
“Police will be looking it into it and are liasing with the RSPCA.”