RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A woman in Richmond is warning her neighbors about a local feral cat that was shot with a pellet gun
Paige Bishop said she took an outdoor cat, who she had seen roaming the Pony Pasture area in Richmond’s Southside for about a year, to the vet recently.
“Seems to be somewhat friendly. Doesn’t seem to be a true feral,” she said about the cat. “He seems like he was abandoned at some point.”
She took him to the vet to get neutered. However, the veterinarian later called her, saying they found something.
“Basically, she called me after they had done the neutering and she said, ‘By the way, I wanted to let you know we saw that there was something on his elbow, and it wound up being a pellet.’ Someone shot him with a pellet gun,” Bishop said.
The vet told her that the office has been seeing an uptick in animal shootings. Richmond Animal Care and Control said that, between January and October, they recorded 75 animal neglect charges and 34 cruelty charges.
“It’s heartbreaking to think people are capable of doing that. If they’re going to do that to a living being, they’re not that far off from possibly doing that to a human being and that’s incredibly scary,” Bishop said. “If it would’ve hit him in the head, it could’ve killed him.”
Now, the cat, which Bishop calls “Boo,” is recovering on her screened-in porch until he’s 100% healthy.
“He’s out there with a litter box. I’m feeding him and giving him water,” she said. “So, he seems to be doing pretty well at this point and recuperating nicely.”
Bishop also encourages people to keep feral cat colonies from growing by taking them to places like Richmond Animal League or Prevent A Litter to get them spayed and neutered.
