Cats shot near school
A concerned cat owner is worried for children’s safety after a second cat was shot on her suburban Blenheim street, three doors down from a primary school.
Smudge the cat was shot on Bythell St at 8am on Tuesday, after only 15 minutes outside, says her owner Ros King.
As Smudge is not the first cat to be shot in this area, King is concerned for the safety of school children nearby.
‘‘I’m literally three houses away from the school – Oliver Park across the way which clearly has all the kids there,’’ King said.
‘‘Is it safe for the kids to be walking themselves to school when someone is discharging guns in the area? What happens if the bullet ricochets?’’
King said the cat left her bed to go outside at 8am and returned 15 minutes later with a bullet wound.
‘‘She was sitting in the foyer area, and I actually thought it was the cat from next door that had got into the house, because I’d never heard her meow like that before in my life.’’
Smudge is the second cat to be shot in the same area of Blenheim within three months.
In September, Poura the cat, who lived in the house next door to Smudge, was shot by a highpowered rifle in the middle of the day.
Former Mayor Liz Davidson also had two maine coon cats go missing from her Springlands home around the same time.
Poura’s owner Bettina Fratucelli said there had been a string of bizarre attacks on felines in the area, going back several years.
Her neighbours had lost two cats this year, and another of her cats had been shot by a pellet gun two-and-a-half years ago.
Springlands Vet Nigel Nesbit treated both Smudge yesterday and Poura in September.
‘‘Once again this cat was incredibly lucky – the entrance wound was in a very similar place except this time it actually grazed the bone,’’ Nesbit said.
‘‘It took pieces off the bone . . . This cat [was] a centimetre away form losing its leg.’’
He said the cat’s surgery had come to nearly $500, an undeserved expense for the cat and its owner.
Nesbit had treated attacked cats before and confirmed ‘‘this is a cat thing’’, but said he had never seen two so similar in such a short time frame.
‘‘It’s a higher powered rifle in a very similar area and a very similar angle that they’ve used, they’ve shot the cat coming towards them,’’ he said.
He said the two cats had to have been shot by the same person, as the wound was so similar.
‘‘I can only say that it wasn’t a slug gun or a BB gun, it was a higher powered rifle, which is not legal to discharge in a built-up town.’’
He had not yet been contacted by police, but hoped they would investigate the crime further.
‘‘It’s pretty dangerous for not only cats, but people as well.’’
Police confirmed they were notified of a cat being shot in Redwoodtown about 8.30am on Tuesday, and were making inquiries.
Marlborough Community Constable Russ Smith said back in September this offence could have two charges: cruelty to animals, and the discharging of a firearm in a built-up area.
‘‘It took pieces off the bone ... This cat [was] a centimetre away form losing its leg.’’ Nigel Nesbit Springlands Vet