Police have launched an investigation after a beloved family pet was found decapitated, and with its tail missing.

The incident in Canford Heath comes just months after another died in a slingshot attack in the area.

The cat, named Pebbles, was found on the morning of Wednesday January 4, on Chaldon Road, Poole, with its tail missing and its head decapitated.

Dorset Police have appealed for information and any images from home CCTV cameras or doorbells in the area, to aid their investigations.

Pebble's owner said they were “devastated”, but that she wanted people to be aware of incidents like this.

“I don’t think anybody is going to be caught for this, but people need to be made aware that these sorts of things are happening,” she said.

“It’s not very nice for a family to have to go through that, my daughter is devastated, she’s just been crying all the time.

"The vet said it looks like foul play, it doesn’t look like there’s any other reason for it, it wasn’t an animal and she hasn’t been run down."

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The owner said that after the previous incident in the area, she was worried that a similar thing may happen to her.

“I do worry about things like this,” she said.

“I have had a few cats that have disappeared, sometimes it has just been that a neighbour has taken them. But this cat never really goes out unless it is to go to the toilet. She wasn’t home Tuesday night; she always sleeps on the stairs.

“I came home yesterday afternoon and then the neighbours came and knocked on the door and told me they had found her on the neighbours front garden.

“It’s awful. It’s bad enough when they die, but for something like this to have happened, it's like murder.”

A Dorset police spokesperson said: “Dorset Police received a report at 2.53pm on Wednesday 4 January 2023 that a cat had been found with fatal injuries in the area of Chaldon Road in Poole at around 10.45am that morning.

“An investigation is underway to establish how the cat came to sustain its injuries and local officers will be carrying out enquiries in the area. Poole NPT takes reports of this nature very seriously and would urge anyone with information to please come forward.

“Officers are also asking anyone with home CCTV or doorbell cameras in the vicinity to please check their footage overnight from Tuesday 3 January to Wednesday 4 January 2023 for anything of relevance.

“Anyone with information can contact us via 101, quoting occurrence 55230001719.”