Help please - sons cat been shot twice in last week...

meritaten

my son is very upset about his cat, he had to take him to the vet last week as the cat had been shot in the right side (pellet hole was visible).
Today the cat went out this morning first thing and returned absolutely fine then he went out a little later and came back with a pellet in his right cheek.
The cat has a very limited territory he goes out and goes up the street about 30 yards and then goes down a path and across the road to the field he comes back the other side of the street about another 25 yards. he doesnt wander and doesnt go in others gardens!
my son is convinced it has to be either a nieghbour or someone in the next cul de sac up whose bedroom faces the road .
he is fuming and I wouldnt want to be around if he catches whoever it is!!!
now to the advice part...........I have advised him to call the police and tell them what is happening (on the grounds that someone is shooting a pellet gun during the day and a child may get hurt) but he thinks they wont be interested and wouldnt do anything. I think he should at least talk to the community support officer and/or inform the housing charity (its a fairly large estate) nuisance team.
has anyone else had this happen??? did you inform the police? what was the outcome? or any suggestions on how to catch this !!!!!! would be gratefully recieved!!!
I too am upset - the cat is a lovely animal and does no harm to anyone and for someone to (it seems) use him for target practice is infuriating me.

geri1965_2

Report it to the RSPCA - hopefully they will take it seriously.

cyberbob

Call the police and the RSPCA and I would be keeping the cat in for a while. When I was at school (quite a few years ago) my friend lost his sight in one eye because someone playing with an air pistol. The pellet ricochet and hit him in the eye.

The police will be interested if not i would be making them so

MCMitten

That's awful :eek: If anything like that happened to my cat- I would definately call the police (especially if it had happened twice) Like you say it could be a child next time! Someone is obviously getting some sort of pleasue out of torturing this poor creature. If there's some friendly neighbourhood kids maybe ask them if they know of someone 'showing off' their pellet gun recently- kids seem to see/hear about these things.
Hope kitty is recovering and you find the a***hole responsable.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Call the police. It is a firearm, it is illegal to discharge it and one of my classmates from school buried her two year old because her younger brother's air rifle went off accidentally, went in his ear and killed him.

beks

Definitely get police and RSPCA involved. I would think about warning other cat owners in the area as probably not just your sons cat being targeted and next time the result could be a lot worse.
I hope they catch who did it, poor cat. There really are some idiots in this world.

meritaten

thanks - I wanted him to call the police, but he thinks that the police would find it a trivial matter because its only a cat! The estate he lives on has far worse problems and getting the police to come out is rather a problem! As for the RSPCA.........I dont know if you have seen any of my other posts but I will phone them but dont hold out much hope they will do anything about this as their record in the past has been abysmal.
The cat is ok for those kind enough to ask - we believe he cant have been shot at close range and thats why son thinks it is someone in the cul de sac above his - the damage is surface and the pellets havent penetrated far according to the vet (and thats another expense my son could do without!).
and i did say to son that it could be a child as they play in the field and thats why the police should take it seriously.
I am sorry about your friends two year old Jojothe tightfisted - that is horrendous and exactly what i am afraid will happen if this monster isnt stopped.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

It's a firearm offence. To tell them that someone is discharging a firearm in the street should get them up there pretty sharpish, searching the houses.

olias

Agree, call the police. If the attending officer does not take the matter seriously enough (some junior PCs and PCSOs may not know how to deal with the issue and try to fob your son off), then take it further with his inspector!

Olias

pimento

My friend's cat has a cat cam. You attach the small camera to your cat's collar. They're available online and will take a picture every couple of minutes (you can change the settings) and you can download the pics to your PC.

Wouldn't it be great if they caught the nutcase in the act?

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

It's a firearm offence. To tell them that someone is discharging a firearm in the street should get them up there pretty sharpish, searching the houses.

i agree with above posters! but to say a pellet gun is a firearm your mistaken its not and is classed under a different law to firearms!

airrifles do not require a licence under 12lb pressure,
Firearms have different amunition different lbs pressure above 12 and rerquire a licence.

airrifles have age restrictions to that of:

you must be of 14yrs old to fire one with a responsable adult over the age of 21.

you have to be 18 yrs old to pruchase one with photo ID.

under no curmstances shall the airifle be transported covered in a slip bag or not in the streets, for transportation you must use a vehicle to have it repaired, filled, serviced, anyone in breach of this rule can have their airrifle taken from them covered or not!

not to shoot near houses,bridal paths, lanes, carriage ways, conservation areas,national parks etc to the distance of 250 meters.

because the law see's airrifles differently to firearms there would be a hard job getting them interested in coming out unless the perp' was identified and whitnessed having this in his possesion. then will only rofl harris and his team come out with a film crew coupled with an RSPCA inspector.

so no its not a firearms offence! sorry!