Fears as North East pet atacks on the rise

Jun 21 2009 by Tom Mullen, Sunday Sun

ANIMAL lovers last night spoke of their concern after the latest North cruelty outrage.

A cat in Teesside had a miracle escape after a yob attack left 50 shotgun pellets lodged in its body. It was the latest incident in a string of animal abuse cases which makes the North the animal cruelty capital of Britain.

And the RSPCA last night warned of a growing trend of airgun attacks on animals . . . with cats and wild birds being targeted by yobs.

Across our region, more than 100 people have been hauled before the courts by the animal charity in the past 18 months.

Cleveland Police are now hunting the sick thugs who attacked Rosie the cat in Guisborough. But the region’s biggest forces are also chasing animal cruelty yobs.

Northumbria Police have investigated 76 serious crimes against animals since 2007, while Durham Constabulary logged 81 cases. Across Tyneside, County Durham, Cumbria, Teesside, North Yorkshire and Northumberland, the RSPCA prosecuted a shocking 191 people for horrific attacks on pets, wildlife and livestock last year.

Among the worst incidents of cruelty were a yob firing crossbow bolts at a cow, another who set fire to hedgehogs and someone who killed 19 fish by pouring washing-up liquid into a pond.

But animal experts described the shotgun attack on Rosie as one of the most unpleasant they had ever seen.

RSPCA inspector Lucy Hoehne, investigating the case, said: “Sadly, we deal with many incidents like this and not all the animals involved are as lucky as Rosie.

“We’ve dealt with 65 calls to our cruelty line relating to animals being shot with airguns in the north of England this year. Cats and wild birds are the biggest targets.

“We want to hear from anyone who knows what happened here.”

The vet who helped operate on the cat, last night slammed the sick thugs who left the pet peppered with pellets and within inches of death after the horrific attack.

Rosie underwent three days of surgery, but vets could not remove 20 pellets for fear of injuring her further.

Vet Claire Turner said: “You see quite a lot of cases of animal neglect, but not shootings like this. This is the first one I’ve seen.”

“She was really lucky. There were some pellets that we couldn’t get out because they were too deeply embedded, but luckily most of them hit soft tissue.”

Rosie’s outraged owner Tracy Homan said she believed the cat may have been tied up before she was shot.

Ms Homan said she was “furious” at the “absolutely horrendous” brutality of the attack, which happened between 9pm on Wednesday and 10am Thursday.

A spokesman for Cleveland Police said: “Thorough investigations were made. However, inquiries could not be progressed as there was insufficient evidence.

“If any new information comes to light, we will certainly progress inquiries. We take all incidents of animal cruelty extremely seriously.”