This is the shocking moment an elderly cat is snatched by an unknown man and carried away from the front porch of a home.<br /><br />Padstow, 18, was grabbed by the young man dressed in an all black tracksuit at 1.30am on Tuesday (July 9) in the sleepy village of Wivenhoe, Essex.<br /><br />The video shows the person seizing Padstow up by the scruff of his neck and carrying him across the front garden of Vanessa Potter and Liz Delaney. <br /><br />Ms Potter, 54, said that people were "hoping for the best but fearing the worst" as Padstow has not been seen since.<br /><br />She lives round the corner from Padstow's owners Naomi and Christian Winter, who have had the cat since he was a kitten, and Padstow is a frequent visitor to her garden.<br /><br />Ms Potter said: "It has shocked so many people that someone can treat an animal like that. I can't describe the upset. <br /><br />"The real cruelty and willingness to do harm to an animal is beyond belief. <br /><br />"Padstow's owners came and got him on Monday evening to take him home and feed him - he's a wanderer. <br /><br />"He came back at 8pm and we saw him go into his plastic cat shelter. <br /><br />"When Liz turned on her phone at 7am the following day, Naomi had said Padstow hadn't come home.<br /><br />"We then saw on our camera footage that he had been taken. <br /><br />"It was clearly someone who knew everyone living nearby has a Ring doorbell camera as you can see in the footage they bent down to hide from it.<br /><br />"But they didn't know we had a ‘Padstow cam’ and so we caught the whole thing. We can’t watch the footage with the sound on because it's so distressing.<br /><br />"We live less than 5 metres from the river and we're desperately trying to find out what happened to him - we're even trying to clean the sound out from the cameras to see if he was thrown in the river."<br /><br />Known as a local celebrity, residents of the town are often seen talking to Padstow, stroking him or giving him treats. <br /><br />Last night (July 9), more than 50 villages rallied together to search for the feline in a search party, scouring the river, marshland and looking through bins.<br /><br />Ms Potter said: "We can't find him or any evidence of him. He is very vocal and I think we would have heard him. It's devastating.<br /><br />"The village has one road in and one road out and we know no cars came in or out in that hour period.<br /><br />"We can only assume that the person was on foot and knew the village. <br /><br />"We pride ourselves on being friendly and a safe place to live – it's a testament to how shocked and upset everybody is. Everyone loves him."<br /><br />Naomi Winter, Padstow's owner, said: "We’re truly touched that so many people love our furry old boy as much as we do and want to see his safe return.<br /><br />"All we desperately care about is getting Padstow back to where he belongs."<br /><br />Padstow's owners are offering a substantial reward for the return of Padstow or any information that leads to a prosecution for animal cruelty.<br /><br />Essex Police have been contacted for comment.
