Person who shot beloved family pet slammed as 'cold and heartless'

Thursday, 13 June 2019

Lynx pictured on May 29, the day before he went missing.

A solo mum and her eight-year-old daughter have been left distraught after their beloved pet cat Lynx was deliberately shot.

Oceana Savage described the five-year-old ragdoll as 'my prince since the day he arrived in my life'.

The would where the .22 bullet struck Lynx.

'He always makes me smile when I get home and wake up in the morning. I love him like a son, he is family to us.'

She said Lynx went missing from their home south of Taupō on May 30, prompting her and daughter Ari to walk the streets and deliver flyers.

The .22 bullet vets removed from Lynx the cat.

She admits that after a week they were giving up hope, until a faint meowing was heard on the night of May 7.

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The X-Ray taken by the vet showing the bullet and shrapnel.

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Oceana Savage with pet cat Lynx who was shot..

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Lynx is back at home but not out of the woods yet as he fights an infection.

'I went running, knowing it was him.'

She said she found Lynx hiding in an empty animal house and initially believed he may have been attacked by a dog as his left front leg was broken.

The $1246 vet bill Oceana has been left with.

A trip to the after-hours vet, 'in tears that our boy was hurt', revealed the horrific truth.

'The vet came to us with a worried look on his face as if to say it wasn't as simple as a broken leg,' she said.

'He took us in and showed us the X-rays which revealed he had been intentionally shot with a .22 into his right side which went through his body and lodged in the opposite shoulder, shattering his left shoulder and breaking his sternum on the way through. Fragments of shrapnel scattered all through his chest.'

Lynx has since had his leg amputated, but Savage said he isn't out of the woods yet as he is currently battling an infection.

'Whoever has done this is cold and heartless and were going for a kill shot,' she said.

'Luckily, by a hairs breadth, the bullet missed his heart.'

Savage said she had reported the matter to the police and remains 'saddened someone would do this to my boy'.

She also said the targeting of the much loved pet has affected her daughter, who she said 'cried all the way to school' on Wednesday.

She said she wanted to have pets in her home to help teach her daughter about empathy and caring for something else, and has been left devastated by the lesson in cruelty the incident has shown her.

Savage said the incident has also sparked fears over their second missing cat as she believes others have been deliberately shot in the area too.

'We feel she has been shot too but hasn't had the same lucky fate of coming home like Lynx has,' she said.

'It's definitely intentional.'

Savage has also set up a Give a Little page to assist with the vet bill, which currently stands at $1246.The page also has updates on Lynx's recovery.