The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is looking for the person who shot the eight-month-old kitten Cosmo with an air rifle in the town of Barry in Wales.
The pellet hit Cosmo at the side of his body. He was taken to a veterinary clinic by his owner Devina Hawkins. The kitten was immediately operated to remove the pellet.
“He is very lucky. The pellet was inside and had travelled through his body and had got stuck in the skin on the other side. They think it just missed his organs. They removed the pellet and he is now recovering,” Hawkins said about her kitten.
“The vets said it would have been a deliberate act. I just feel shocked and sick and I don’t feel my animals are safe,” she said.
Devina said Cosmo is the only one of her cats who manages to escape her garden as she has protective fencing up for them. “He is a bit of a Houdini – and does leave the garden but only ever in the network of gardens nearby,” she said. “He does not go far. He has only been going out for a couple of months.”
“I’m now going to build some sort of enclosure to stop him from getting out the garden. I just don’t feel he is safe,” she said after this incident.
The RSPCA is urging the local community to get in touch if they know who shot the cat. RSPCA inspector Darren Oakley said: “He is lucky to be alive following what has been an awful attack.”
“This would have been a hugely painful experience for Cosmo. While we don’t know the exact circumstances behind the attack, it is beggars belief why anybody would deem it acceptable to take a shot at a defenceless cat,” he said.
“Shockingly, we see dozens of incidents like this reported to us each year. That’s why the RSPCA wants to see air gun owners and users licensed to help prevent such irresponsible, reckless behavior.”