“I noticed that the cats were disappearing in the village”: is domestic animal trafficking rampant in Ariège?

It all started with a simple post on a local Facebook group. A publication which might seem innocuous but which has highlighted a worrying phenomenon: an increase in the disappearance of cats between Mirepoix and Lavelanet. The post quickly aroused the interest of local residents, who were moved by the recent loss of their felines, and accumulated more than 70 comments and around twenty shares in less than 24 hours. A question then arises: have they simply disappeared or have they been kidnapped?

Julia*, the originator of this publication, lost her cat two months ago, for no apparent reason. Despite his identification chip, Simba remains untraceable. “I noticed that, little by little, the cats were disappearing in the village. I saw a lot of wanted announcements,” she confides. However, his furry companion is nothing special. He is not purebred, and she describes him as an alley cat, tabby, with beautiful fur. She has since installed a camera in her garden.

Also read:
Twenty cats vanished in one night in Mazères, Ariège, a mysterious mass disappearance still unsolved

Laura*, owner of five felines, lost Neige less than three months ago. This week, on her way home, she saw a black Volkswagen Polo parked near her house. A woman gets out of the vehicle and furtively approaches her cat. “When I saw her, I screamed. She got back in her car and drove away; she even ran a stop sign. I couldn't find the license plate,” says the Ariégeoise, who now avoids letting them out, for fear of another loss.

Around fifteen disappearances in Lavelanet

Thanks to the Facebook post, Julia and Laura discovered that they were not alone. Around ten other similar cases have emerged, revealing the worrying scale of the problem. Amandine Méline, president of the Compagnons des Animals association, was warned of these disappearances. “There are around fifteen cats missing in Lavelanet. I receive lots of calls, I try to reassure them, but I can't do much. We don't know what they (possible kidnappers, Editor's note) are doing so; all the cats reported are sterilized. We are afraid that it is trafficking,” she explains.

Also read:
Ariège: 13 animals found poisoned in three weeks, 5 others impaled on a harrow, who blames the cats of Lavelanet?

The owners put forward several hypotheses: Noah's syndrome, a psychiatric disorder which leads to the accumulation of domestic animals in large numbers, fur trafficking, or even the consumption of cat meat. The Mirepoix SPA has not yet noticed anything abnormal, indicating that at certain times of the year, the number of disappearances increases without explanation. The Mirepoix shelter and the Compagnons des Animals association advise feline owners to notify the gendarmerie or town hall in order to determine whether an investigation should be opened. When contacted, the Mirepoix and Lavelanet gendarmes stated that they had not received any complaints concerning these disappearances.