DEVASTATED pet-owners trawled through 13 bins to recover the body of their cat who was “chucked away like rubbish”.

Zelda the black and white cat was found dead in Lower Castle Park on Sunday morning, and a neighbour broke the news to her owners, Sophie Worster and Sarah Young.

The pair were shocked to hear Zelda’s body had been put in a wheelie bin by a member of Colchester Council’s gardening team, rather than being checked for her microchip.

After an hour of digging through waste, including smashed glass, nails and cardboard, Sophie and Sarah finally found Zelda at the bottom of a bin in Castle Park Yard.

Unable to afford the hundreds of pounds it would cost to find out what caused Zelda’s death, the family is due to have her cremated today.

Sophie, 23, said: “She was squashed right at the bottom of the bin – it was shocking. There was no respect for her at all.

“She should have been scanned or taken to a vet – if it was a dog, it would be completely different.

“The fact they have chucked her away like rubbish is just ridiculous.

“We just want to warn other people.

“There was no evidence as to what killed her but we don’t think she got run over.

“She just looked as if she was sleeping.”

Sarah’s daughter, Georgia, 16, suffers from autism and found comfort in playing with Zelda.

Sophie, who lives with Sarah and their 13 other cats in Maidenburgh Street, Colchester, said: “We’ve had to break the news to her over the phone – she’s absolutely devastated.”

A Colchester Council spokesman said: “This is an extremely regrettable incident, which should not have happened, and we offer our sincerest apologies to Zelda’s owners for any distress they have been caused.

“We responded to a call from a resident of the park who had unfortunately found Zelda in her garden.

“A member of the gardening team responded and placed Zelda’s remains in a wheelie bin in the Castle Park Yard. She was not placed thoughtlessly in an ordinary park litter bin.

“As a result of what happened over the weekend, we will remind staff of our procedures for dealing with the remains of domestic animals found in our parks, which is to contact our Zone Team so that the animal can be scanned for an ID tag.”

The Zone Teams contact owners directly and either return or dispose of the animal on their behalf.