UNITED KINGDOM -- A cat has been killed in a savage attack by a dog in a Swansea garden.
Pet owner Jayne Jones revealed her horror after their black cat Riddle died on Wednesday night.
Mrs Jones, of Portmead Place, Blaenymaes, said her husband Christopher, aged 55, rushed into the garden when he heard a screeching sound.
She said the two-year-old cat died minutes after the attack.
"The cat was just in the front garden laying around as it spent a lot of time outside in the hot weather," she said.
"My husband thought that the cat had got a bird because he could hear a screeching sound. But he saw a big dog with a cat in its mouth. He had a can of soup in his hand and threw it towards the dog to scare him off. The dog was startled and left."
She added: "The dog had taken a bite of the cat and it was bleeding quite a bit and struggling to breathe — it died a few minutes later."
She also claimed her husband had been attacked a few months ago by a dog which had been allowed to roam.
"Who knows, with a hot summer and children out playing, next time it may be a child," Mrs Jones said.
"We do have a problem with dogs roaming here and barking day or night."
Mrs Jones said it was lucky her autistic daughter Nicole, aged 12, had been upstairs at the time of the attack on the family's pet.
A Swansea Council spokesman said: "All tenants of council properties need permission to have dogs but we'd remind people that, whether they live in council accommodation or not, it's their responsibility to look after their dogs.
"It's an offence to allow your dog to stray in a public place and we can impound dogs if they're roaming freely and not under anyone's control. From April 2012 to March 2013, we impounded more than 600 dogs across Swansea. We'll visit the area to look into the issue but incidents of dog biting or the fear of dog biting should be reported to the police."
A South Wales Police spokesman confirmed they were called to the property following the incident.
(This is South Wales - Aug 2, 2013)
