Police have issued a final warning to a dog owner after their American bulldog attacked and killed a cat according to a Dulwich local.

According to Sarah Coe, who helped care for the cat, the dog has been terrorising the pets and their owners for the past two years in Dulwich.

The first instance is said to have happened in 2019, when it allegedly attacked another dog which led to hospitalisation of the owner and the animal being seriously injured.

The latest incident was on October 10 when the cat, Bissey died as the result of an attack outside Wash & Dry laundrette located on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich.

Coe, who worked at the laundrette and who looked out for Bissey, shared the story on her Facebook page.

She said: ‘We have had customers cry with us, or even people who haven’t used our shop, but always came past and said hello to her. They were really upset, too.’

Coe told the followers of the East Dulwich Forum that after the attack Bissey was so severely injured – her bones were broken and her liver was damaged – her owners had to put her to sleep.

Coe said: ‘I can’t say too much right now as we got police and Southwark council on this, but I will say this, the owners of this dog, shame on you! If only you knew how many actual reports had been made about your dog.’ 

According to Cats Protection monitoring of press reports in UK between 2015 to 2019, 270 cases of dog attacks on cats have been reported in the press in the UK, 80% of which were fatal, and only 10% led to prosecution of the dog owners.

Dulwich animal owners and fellow residents are getting worried about animal aggression in the area. On October 2, a dog left the Peckham Park was injured by a group of unleashed dogs. The dogs who were the aggressors were in the park with their owners, yet, according to the owner of the attacked pet, they did nothing to control their dogs.

American bulldogs have a very high prey drive, and a rigorous mental and physical training is a must for them from an early age for a puppy to be well-socialised. Some Facebook users who interacted with Bissey’s story, had put forward a view that it is not the dog’s fault that people and pets got injured. Under Coe’s post, a user who raised an American bulldog themselves had left a comment: ‘Such a shame that people are allowed to let dogs get this way. Bad ownership, bad training, or being ignorant of breed characteristics are to blame.’