A happy story of domestic cat fortitude. She’s been named Hope by the charity Cats Protection. She was found covered in blood in a garden (backyard) in Marchwood, Hampshire, UK. She’s about 3 years old. She’d been shot three times with an air rifle. One of the pellets was removed from her mouth. The other two could not be removed without risking her life.
Cats Protection is petitioning the UK government to introduce licensing for air guns. In Scotland and Ireland you need a license. The petition has received 120k signatures.
The UK government is reviewing the matter of licensing for air guns.
Hope appears to be doing okay. She was treated at Seadown Veterinary Surgery in Hythe. The kittens will be adopted out as soon as possible.
Comment: cats shot with air guns is quite common in the UK. It is very rare for a cat to be shot with a rifle or hand gun that fires bullets despite a reported 1.8 licensed firearms (mainly shotguns) in the UK. Crossbows and air rifles are the firearms of choice for cat shooters.
The BBC did not report on whether the police were investigating the crime. I suspect not because it is all but impossible to catch the criminals involved in these casual but serious animal abuse crimes. The police don’t prioritise these sorts of crimes. In the UK the police don’t come out to thefts under £200 and burglaries are hardly ever investigated. A mere 5% of all crimes conclude with a conviction. The UK has descended into anarchy. The police have all but abdicated their respoonsibilties to the citizens of the country to patrol their own streets. The coronavirus lockdown has reduced conventional crime but hugely increased online and banking crime. People must be alert to this. Never get sucked in to discussing transfers of money by a stranger or an email unless you are 100% sure and even then don’t do it. It is too risky.
