RSCPA officers say it is a ‘miracle’ a cat survived despite being shot in the head twice during an attack in Mansfield.
Angel was shot with an air gun close to his home on Austin Close, on the town’s Ravensdale estate, at around 10pm on Sunday (July 16).
X-rays revealed two pellets, one lodged in the soft tissue just behind his right cheek and one in his left eye – which meant the eye had to be removed.
It was only the young cat’s third venture outside in the area. The RSPCA described his survival as ‘miraculous’ but said his owner 13-year-old Chloe and her mum Giselle Covel were ‘devastated’
The society has launched an appeal for information to catch the attacker.
Giselle said: “It’s hard to believe or imagine that someone is capable of doing this but apparently people are.
“He doesn’t deserve that. It just makes me so angry. He is the sweetest cat and did not deserve to be harmed and maimed like this. To choose to harm an animal you must have a totally different set of values to most of us.”
She added the family thought Angel had been hit by a car or beaten up when she first found him sitting in his favourite chair after coming in from outside.
She added: “He had beautiful eyes and now he has lost his eye. Finding out someone had shot him and that was this deliberate just made it all the much worse.”
RSPCA Inspector Keith Ellis, who is investigating, said: “An angel must have been watching over him that day for him to survive being shot in the head.
“It is distressing to think that people take pleasure in causing such horrific injuries to defenceless animals. To shoot a cat with an air gun is a brutal and callous act of cruelty and poor Angel has been left with life-changing injuries.
“We often find that the people responsible for attacks like this are adults but sometimes it can be children who are messing around with an air gun. My advice would be not to buy an air gun for your children and if you do, do not let them use it unsupervised.”
