Body of woman, 79, who died ‘from Covid found eaten from waist up by pet cats’ – World News

A pensioner believed to have died from coronavirus was discovered partially eaten – by her cats.

Police found the corpse after neighbours raised the alarm because of the strong smell coming from a flat in Madrid, Spain.

Reports say the upper part of the woman’s body had been gnawed away by seven of her pets – five of which were also found dead.

The dead woman has been named as Clara Ines Tobon, 79, from Colombia.

One police officer is said to have described the scene, in the neighbourhood of Fuencarral, as his worst experience on the job.

Firefighters forced entry to the apartment on Monday and found the body in a room during a search.

Clara’s two remaining cats have been taken to an animal rescue centre.

Her body is believed to have laid undiscovered for around three months, although post-mortem results have not yet been released.

She had been living alone in the flat where she was found dead since 1996. All her family are said to live in Colombia.

One unnamed neighbour told Spanish daily El Mundo: “A police officer said it was the worst thing he had ever seen since in his job.”

Residents also told the told local press they believe Clara may have died from coronavirus.

Sadly, the incident is not the first of its kind in Madrid.

In September 2019 it emerged a dog survived the death of his owner by eating part of his body as he lay undiscovered for a month.

The dead man reportedly had no flesh left on his legs where the animal devoured his lower limbs to stay alive.

A neighbour raised the alarm after returning from holiday to discover a rancid smell she mistook at first for a dead rat.

The dog was sedated before being taken to an animal rescue centre after police got firefighters to force their way into the ground-floor flat in the neighbourhood of Ciudad Lineal and made the gruesome discovery.

Doctors were said at the time to have estimated the dead man, a 56-year-old prison chef known only as Matias, had died around a month earlier after succumbing to lymphatic cancer.