Police investigate shooting of cat near primary school

Police are investigating the shooting of a cat in Spalding.

Three-year-old Pip was found with a pellet embedded in her left hind leg. Removing it could cause nerve damage and vets have warned that the limb might have to be amputated.

The shooting is believed to have happened in the back garden of Maria Hardy’s home in Woolram Wygate, which neighbours Spalding Primary School.
Police have been holding house-to-house inquiries to try and establish if there were any witnesses to the incident between 8.45am and 11.45am on Tuesday last week.

X-ray shows the lodged pellet

Maria said: “I’m very upset about what’s happened to Pip.
“Being in an area near a school if the person responsible had missed and hit a child it could have been worse.”

There was evidence that someone had been into the back garden of the home and the family has since arranged for CCTV to be installed.
Nervous Pip, who doesn’t stray far because the family has not long been at the address, was curled up and in distress when Maria returned home.
She said: “When I picked her up, she was screeching out. Then when I put her on the worktop I noticed that she was dragging her leg.
“That’s when I decided to take her straight away to the vet’s. I thought she’d been hit by a car and they did too at first.
“But then they did an x-ray and it showed the bullet in her leg.”

Maria has had Pip since birth and she’s one of the family’s six cats, including her mother and a sister.
Maria said: “I don’t care how much it costs, I’ll do whatever I can for Pip.
“But this is bang out of order. I’m concerned that if someone has taken a pot shot at one of my cats, they could do the same to somebody else’s.”

The family says they are aware of anyone who might have a grudge against them.
Maria added: “Even the police officer said it was very strange that this happened during the day.”
Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting incident 216 10/3.