Cat peppered with pellets by hunter

A TRIGGER-happy hunter has left family cat blinded and with 14 shotgun pellets lodged in the skull and more in the body

Nick Dorsett said their cat was shot on land near their home in Merignac, Charente-Maritime, and, although badly injured, managed to get to the house.

Vets kept him for three days and operated on his eyes to repair pellet holes and X-rays, see left, showed he had 14 pellets in his head and 12 in his upper body.

Mr Dorsett said: “Through one thoughtless action, we have a blind cat who needs a great deal of care for the rest of his life and a €340 vets’ bill. The authorities have, so far, been far from helpful: it’s only a cat.”

Legal expert Ms Marion Fargier at wild animal charity Aspas said with that many pellets the cat must have been shot at close range. She added: “Hunters hate cats because they eat rabbits and birds. Your reader must lodge a complaint with the gendarmerie along with a copy of the vet’s report. If not, these things will just continue and people will get hurt.”

Already this hunting season a mushroom-picker has been killed in the Ain and there have been around 40 other incidents with a dozen non-hunters injured.