Cat blinded in pellet gun attack

Monday, 2 January 2006, BBC News

A cat was blinded in both eyes after she was held down and shot several times with an air gun in Liverpool.

Three pellets were embedded in Muppet's skull, while she was also shot in each hind leg, her jaw and tail.

Owner Jan Collier, of Fazakerley, said she thought her pet had been hit by a car until an x-ray revealed the pellets peppering her body.

Although initially left traumatised by the attack, Mrs Collier said the four-year-old was starting to recover.

She underwent surgery at a veterinary surgery in Huyton, where five of the seven pellets were removed. Those in her jaw and leg remain.

Three pellets were embedded in Muppet's skull

'Beneath contempt'

Mrs Collier said: "We think they must have held her down because none of the pellets hit her trunk, so that's probably where their hands were.

"She was such a placid little thing, and she would go up to anybody, which is probably what made her easy prey.

"She was absolutely traumatised at first, but she is getting out and about a bit more now.

"She still climbs the fence outside and she can smell the birds, so she tries to chase them."

The family's other cat, one-year-old Clio, was also shot recently but the pellet did not cause serious injury.

Mrs Collier said that nine of her neighbours' cats had been shot in the last five years.

She described those responsible as "beneath contempt".

~5-Cat Style