Family issue appeal after pet cat is shot

Family issue appeal after pet cat is shot

14 November 2012

A BALLYNOE family has issued an appeal for information after a pet cat was shot dead.

The disturbing incident happened on October 29 in a field at the rear of the family’s Erenagh Road home.

Kevin McCormick explained the family’s seven year-old ginger tom was found dead, discarded in a hedge after being shot once with an air rifle.

He removed the cat from the hedge and an examination of its body revealed where the pellet had entered. Mr. McCormick also took the cat to a vet who x-rayed the animal.

Although no-one saw the animal being shot, a man carrying a rifle was spotted in the field at the rear of the McCormick home on the Saturday morning the cat went missing.

Mr. McCormick said his daughter and a neighbour both spotted the man in the field at separate times. It’s understood he was wearing a long black coat and hat and is believed to have been driving a dark blue or black coloured four-wheel drive vehicle, possibly either a Mitsubishi or Isuzu.

“Our cat is very attentive and stayed in the house at night. During the day it would be in our back garden and occasionally went into the nearby field. It never strayed very far from home and when it didn’t come home on October 29 we suspected something was wrong,” explained Mr. McCormick. “I initially thought it may have been run over.

“On the day he went missing my daughter rang me to tell me a man wearing a long black coat and hat carrying an air rifle was staring at her through our kitchen window. She described him as being a bit creepy.”

Mr. McCormick described the family pet as a “ritual animal” and one which always returned home and never strayed too far. He said six days after the ginger tom went missing, it was discovered in the hedge nearby.

“What happened has been upsetting for my daughter in particular. First she sees this man in the field and then the family cat goes missing.

“I would not want another family to suffer the experience of losing a family pet in such circumstances and would appeal to anyone who can help police investigating this incident to do so,” he said.

Mr. McCormick said the cat had a collar on it with a small bell and that whoever was responsible for shooting the animal “would have known it was a family pet.”

He added: “The owner of the field at the rear of our home has informed me that while one person has rights to shoot in the field, it wasn’t the man we described to him. What happened is shocking and I hope something like this does not happen to any other family.”

Anyone with information about the shooting incident on October 29 at the Erenagh Road is asked to contact police at Downpatrick, telephone 0845 600 8000, citing reference number 835.