A MAN who claimed he saw a dog owner urge his pets to kill a cat in Chard said it was a horrific attack.

The man, who asked not to be named, was walking to his home on Summerfields Road when he claimed another man set one of his dogs on a cat before then threatening to attack him.

Police are hunting for the dog owner after the incident, which happened at around 11.30pm and midnight, close to the corner of Mintons Orchard.

The resident said: “I saw him and he was egging-on the dog to attack the cat and let it off the lead – the dog was shaking the cat about in its mouth.

“I shouted for him to call his dog back but then he turned to me and threatened to get the dog to come on me.

“I walked on and when I was out of sight I called the police.”

Police say the man had three dogs with him, two lurchers, one coloured black and white, the other a mustard colour, and the third dog was a sandy coloured terrier.

The man was wearing a cap and a camouflage jacket and believed to be aged around 30.

The witness, who said he was a bit shaken up by the incident, added that it was the first time he had ever seen anything like this before.

He added: “Pet owners should take responsibility for their own actions – it is just cruelty to do that to a cat.

“There are a lot of cats running around in the area.”

Police said a number of witnesses were “quite distressed” by the incident and the cat’s body was removed from the road by officers.

Sgt Rob Jameson said: “We are treating this as a serious incident because we want to speak to the man involved.

“This is an extremely isolated incident because the majority of pet owners are responsible people and keep their pets under control and well behaved."

If you witnessed the incident on Saturday, March 29, call 101 and quote log AS-20140329-1179.