Suburban moggies shot dead

A Hamilton couple is considering moving out of their home after three of their beloved cats were fatally shot.

Henry, Rocky and Daisy were all found dead on Kellie Given’s Nawton property after suffering slug gun wounds to the chest.

‘‘We’re not too sure who it is,’’ Given said, ‘‘but all the cats have been found roughly in the same area, at the front of the garden.’’

The first fatality, Henry, was in March 2017.

Given replaced him with two other cats, including Rocky who was shot twice – he survived the first attempt in December 2017 but couldn’t survive the second pellet in February.

The latest victim was 11-month-old Daisy, an abandoned kitten that Given hand-reared.

The moggy suffered a fatal shot to her chest on November 24.

‘‘It would have been her first birthday in about two weeks,’’ Given, 21, said. ‘‘She came to me at about two weeks old, it’s been pretty devastating for me. ‘‘She liked to wander around. ‘‘She had gone missing for about a day and we thought she had got stuck somewhere in someone’s garage or something, then we found her in the garden.’’

Then there’s Drake, who survived a gunshot wound and still has the pellet inside him as it’s too risky to remove.

Given said the incidents appear to happen on a Friday or Saturday when they are out and about.

‘‘We’ve gone to the police. ‘‘The first time they came around was when my cat [Daisy] was shot and they said they

would do some investigating.

‘‘But it can’t be too much of an issue for them so nothing has really been done about it.’’

A police spokeswoman confirmed police received a report of the November incident and visited Given’s Rosehill Place home.

‘‘However, no further lines of inquiry were identified.

‘‘We’d ask that anyone with further information on this matter please get in touch with police,’’ she said.

Given is now keeping her remaining three cats inside.

‘‘Usually we don’t like to keep them inside, we like them to be able to do whatever they want – come and go as they please like a normal cat.’’

Given said they have no reason to be targeted and there are others in the neighbourhood who have cats.

‘‘It gives us quite a bit of anxiety when a cat goes missing, and we have my partner’s 10-year-old sister living with us and it’s quite upsetting for her.

‘‘They are part of the family and they do weave their way into your heart – it’s a sad way to see them go.’’

DOMINICO ZAPATA/STUFF Kellie Given with Drake who has been shot by a slug gun but survived. Three of her other cats weren’t so lucky.

FAR LEFT: Henry was the first cat that was shot dead in March 2017.

CENTRE: Rocky was shot twice. He survived the first shooting in December 2017, but was fatally injured in February.

LEFT: Daisy was fatally shot by a slug gun in November.

Kellie Given: ‘‘We’d ask that anyone with information please get in touch with police.’’