A macabre story closes in Rome , involving a sui generis “cat lady” and an indefinite number of felines, subject to protracted harassment over time. Following the repeated reports of animal welfare associations and citizens, the mayor Virginia Raggi has signed an ordinance, with which the woman expressly forbids to keep cats or other pets in their home.

The “serial killer of cats” or “witch of cats” – as the woman was known among the inhabitants of the neighborhood and in the social community – resides in via Lavinio (San Giovanni area) and suffers from disposophobia, serial accumulator syndrome. From now on, you will be targeted by local police officers, who will have to ensure compliance with the signed order.

The reasons for the ordinance against the killer of cats

The ordinance comes at the end of a long meeting that the mayor of Rome had with the animal welfare associations Enpa, Lndc, Earth, Pai and Animal Liberaction . On that occasion, the activists unanimously asked for an action against the sixty-year-old Roman, accused of luring cats in order to inflict cruel punishment and mistreatment on them. 

“ I’ll tell you a story that is unbelievable. In recent days, some animal welfare associations in the San Giovanni district have reported the disappearance of numerous cats ”   reads the Facebook page of Virginia Raggi . ” […] According to what they told me,a lady would have lured and kidnapped the animals and then left them to die of hunger and thirst in her home . A situation that, apparently, has been going on for years. The prosecutor, in fact, in the past has already dealt with her: it would be a compulsive hoarder, well known in the neighborhood. A couple of years ago, after the intervention of the Local Police, Ama and her hygiene office, sixteen tons of garbage were taken from her house, including some cat carcasses ”.

A story that has long upset and worried those who deal with animal rights, but which has not been able to be adequately addressed so far due to the lack of a law that prevents those under investigation for animal abuse from continuing to accumulate them . 

For this reason – after yet another report by residents – the intervention of the mayor was necessary, who established ” the removal of the pets present in the apartment and the accommodation of the same in a suitable alternative place, by the veterinary service “. 

The next steps

” With the ordinance banning the keeping of animals in one’s home signed on March 14 by the Mayor Virginia Raggi ” commented the ENPA in a note ” one of the worst chapters of animal abuse of the last twenty years in Rome closes  relating to a known accumulator of animals in the capital . “

To make the ordinance enforceable and to check that it is respected in all its parts, it will be up to the local police officers of Roma Capitale of the VII Tuscolano group.

The provision provides, as a first step, the evacuation of the house, so that the remaining animals can be rescued from the violence and entrusted to the ASL of reference . 

Subsequently, periodic checks will be carried out , to verify that what may be decreed by the mayor Raggi is honored. And that this story – with the terrible consequences and the suffering it caused – does not repeat itself again.