An Oak Bay family is devastated after their cat was shot with a pellet gun and had to be put down.
“I don’t know if it was a teenager or some sadistic person who got some enjoyment out of it,” says Brigg’s owner, Paul Chan.
The two-year-old black cat had been missing for a few days before his family found him on the evening of Sunday,Sept. 1.
Briggs was rushed to the vet, where an x-ray revealed he’d been shot in the stomach with a pellet gun.
“We were just kind of shocked,” Chan says. “And then all kinds of things went through our minds in terms of how much our cat may have suffered and how this could happen in our community.”
Briggs also had signs of blunt-force trauma and was so badly hurt, he had to be put down.
Oak Bay police are now investigating the indent and appealing to the public for help.
“This is very unusual but we do have have incidents where people are unhappy with neighbourhood pets being on their property,” says Deputy Chief Ray Bernoties. “We don’t know if that was the motivation in this case.”
Brigg’s didn’t usually wander very far from his home on Deal Street so police are focusing their efforts in that area and the neighbourhood between Windsor Park and the Victoria Golf Course.
“Somebody in that neighbourhood will know of somebody with a pellet gun so that would be a great starting place for us, whether it’s an adult or a child, somebody’s got a pellet gun in that area,” Deputy Chief Bernoties says.
For Chan and his wife Joelene Heathcote, who took to Facebook to warn others in the area, trying to explain such a senseless act to their young children hasn’t been easy.
“They’re scared,” Chan says. “The first thing my younger son said was, ‘do we need to be worried about being shot?’ so it’s very traumatizing.”
Anyone with information is asked to call Oak Bay Police or Crime Stoppers.
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