Pet owner's fears after cat shot in New Plymouth

Sunday, 6 January 2019

A New Plymouth pet owner says the person who shot her cat could mistakenly hit innocent bystanders the next time they target animals.

Shelly Henry is relieved 8-year-old Smudge is making a full recovery after a pellet went through its body days before Christmas.

Eight year old Smudge the cat used up a life to survive being shot.

Henry, of Spotswood, reported the incident to police after a veterinarian operated on the cat to close two wounds near its hip and abdomen.

Smudge was lucky to survive after the pellet narrowly missed vital organs, she said.

A high powered air rifle may have been used shoot Smudge in the lower back. The pellet exited through the cat's abdomen.

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'He was in a lot of pain and I knew he was not himself when he came home limping and lay on the concrete outside the front door.

'We had to pick him up to get him to eat, and we thought it was because of a fight with another cat, or a dog attack.'

The cat is now confined to a cage until it regains full strength and Henry was reluctant to let it roam her section because she feared the errant 'shooter' was capable of more deliberate cruelty.

'I'm too scared to let Smudge out of his cage until the person who shot him comes forward to own up why he or she did it,' she said.

'If the shooter is angry at animals he might shoot at another pet and hit a child, or adult by mistake.'

Henry cannot think why anyone would want to shoot Smudge - one of four cats and three dogs she cares for.

Smudge's near-death shooting was the latest in a long line of animal shootings in Taranaki - the most recent being the Bell Block couple Tiny and Tersha van Deventer's cat Kinja, which was shot at in early December.

'Do they have a problem with cats roaming the area?' Henry said.

'If they do then why not front up and be honest and talk to me about it and we can solve their problem.

'I can understand some people may not like pet animals but they don't have to shoot them.'

For the past year other loud shots have been heard near Henry's house on Maui Place.

Comments on social media since Smudge was shot had unleashed more incidents of pets being shot, and killed, in New Plymouth, she said.

'I absolutely adore my animals, and this is gut wrenching.

'It's a coward's way of trying to kill a pet.

'It's a warning to the Taranaki pet community that someone is out there wanting to shoot their pets.'