Hong Kong  - A mystery dog poisoner who has killed scores of Hong Kong pet dogs over the past 20 years has begun targeting cats, animal welfare experts warned Monday.

The body of a ginger and white cat was found last week off Bowen Road in Hong Kong's Mid Levels district, the regular haunt of the poisoner who lays tainted meat and has evaded capture for two decades.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said the dead pet it was found by police close to where a jogger had reported seeing suspicious pieces of meat the same day.

SPCA Executive Director Sandy Macalister said: "It is a dreadful thing. It is so cruel and indiscriminate and goes to show we can assume that other animals like cats have died but have never been found."

On Saturday, SPCA inspectors and volunteers organised a systematic sweep of the hillside to check for more poisonous bait in the undergrowth and to warn dog walkers to be extra vigilant.

Police say there have been around 72 cases of dog poisoning in the area between 1995 and end of October 2007, and three on Hong Kong Island in the first 10 months of
2008.

However, the SPCA believes around 200 dogs have been poisoned at the hand of the Mid-Levels poisoner in the past 20 years.

The most famous victim was Whisky, the pet dog of Hong Kong's last British governor Chris Patten, who survived after eating poisoned chicken four months before the handover in 1997.

All the cases have been along Bowen Road and Black's Link area and involve dogs ingesting a meat laced with highly-toxic pesticide that causes a particularly painful death.

One theory which has persisted over the serial-killer's long reign is that the person responsible has an obsessive dislike of dogs who foul footpaths and may have begun his campaign as a means of revenge.

But Macalister said the latest case showed whoever was responsible had no regard for any animal life.

"This person uses a very toxic pesticide. We had a dog brought in which we presume had just licked the area where the poison had been laid. The dog didn't die but it was very sick. It went through hell but survived," he said.

A reward of more than 20,000 US dollars from animal lovers has been offered to anyone who can track down the culprit.

A Hong Kong police spokesman said: "We attach much importance to tackling dog poisoning cases. Apart from stepping up patrols at black spots, we have also taken various steps to draw the public's attention to the matter." (dpa)