Cat shooting ends with amputation

When family cat Rose went missing from her Telenius Road home recently, owner Cherame Mossley could never have predicted how her week was about to play out.

“We noticed her missing on the Tuesday because she wasn’t on her blanket like normal,” she says.

“I went out and called her, but when she didn’t come back, I thought something wasn’t right.”

When there was still no sign of her after work the next day Cherame broke down in tears, fearing the worst.

“That was when my partner yelled out to say Rose was back, but she had a broken leg.”

The couple rushed Rose to Town & Country Vets in Richmond, who initially thought she just had a puncture wound, probably from a cat fight.

Rose was kept at the vets and the couple went home to wait, where things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

“My partner said he’d make dinner, but when he went to get a lettuce from the garden, he slipped down a bank, broke his ankle and dislocated his foot which was forced round the wrong way.”

Cherame called an ambulance and her partner was rushed to Nelson Hospital where he was told he’d need surgery to put in steel plates.

“Just minutes after getting that news, the vet called to tell me Rose had actually been shot with a slug gun. They’d found a pellet and it had shattered her bone.

“He said they’d need to amputate her front leg. I was in shock.”

With both her partner and cat waiting for surgery on the same day, Cherame rang her eldest daughter Nikila for support.

With the vet’s bill coming close to $3000, Nikila set up a Give a Little page to help, which made over $1100 in just four weeks.

“I’m lucky that I have a lot of family and friends who helped reduce that bill. I’m humbled and honoured by people lending their help.”

Rose is now back at home and adjusting well to a life with three legs.

“Rose is coping really well, but it’s extremely cruel to deliberately hurt someone’s pet. It’s also unfair that owners are left with huge bills just because someone thinks it’s OK to shoot cats. It’s not. They are part of the family too.”

A further two locals have experienced cat shootings in recent months, with others in the region reporting their cats have come home with shaved fur or have turned up miles away in other towns.

Tayla Smart says both her cats were shot at when she lived in Brightwater and her then partner narrowly escaped being shot by a pellet himself.

“We were on our driveway and our cat Steve ran past, followed by a slug pellet which just missed my partner.

“Our other cat Snowball had already been hit by a pellet prior to that which left him with skin wounds.

“It’s really concerning that people have this idea that abusing a cat because it is on your property is OK, especially when they can be scared off with something as harmless as water if there is an issue.”

SPCA inspectorate team leader, Jamie Hancock, says they have received no reports of recent cat shootings in the Nelson area.

“However, we are seeing increased reports of domestic cats being shot across the country, the latest being a cat who died of sepsis due to an air rifle pellet wound in the Northern Canterbury area.”

If the act of shooting causes injury and appropriate treatment is not administered in a timely manner, it could breach the Animal Welfare Act 1999.

“Penalties for such breaches can result in imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years or to a fine not exceeding $100,000 or to both. If a cat has been shot or injured, we absolutely encourage the owner to contact SPCA.”