A cat owner is demanding answers after two of her pet cats were shot with air rifle pellets in the Auckland suburb of Waterview.
Natasha Kennedy told 1News she's had "a stressful and hard start to the year" after forking out nearly $3000 in vet bills to have the pellets removed from her beloved domestic short hair cats, Roo and Jett.
"First, you know, there's sadness that somebody could do something like this and cause so much harm and suffering to an animal. And then obviously anger, as well, that they could do that."
Kennedy said she was first alerted to her cat Roo's distress on December 30 last year when her partner heard the cat scream "really loudly" outside their Alveston Street property.
"The next day when I was petting her, I found like a large lump on her tail and I thought potentially it was a little abscess," she said.
She continued to treat the wound for swelling and didn't think anything further of it until January 2 when her other cat, Jett, came home limping and wouldn't put any weight on his back foot which Kennedy said "wasn't normal".
An X-ray revealed broken metatarsal bones in Jett's foot along with an air rifle pellet, which Kennedy said was "quite a shock".
"When we found that out that he'd been shot, we shaved Roo's tail to get a better look at it and it looked to us like a pellet entry wound as well," she said.
The vet confirmed it was an air rifle pellet in her tail, however Kennedy said the vet could not confirm if both pellets were from the same gun.
At this point on January 5 she filed reports to both the SPCA and police.
Her partner has followed up with police, who told 1News it was "not immediately aware" of any reports relating to cats being shot in the Waterview area.
"We encourage anyone who may be feeling unsafe or have concerns about dangerous, illegal or suspicious behaviour, to call Police on 111. For non-urgent concerns you can call 105 or report the incident online."
Kennedy said the SPCA has since informed her that their inquiries were underway.
"So the [SPCA] have now started the investigation to try and get any evidence they can, which is great," she said.
SPCA Inspectorate team leader Andre Williams confirmed it was aware of an incident involving cats being shot in the Waterview area.
"This is under investigation, and therefore we're unable to provide further comment at this stage," he said.
Williams continued: "While this may be unsettling for cat owners in the area, anyone concerned about their pet’s safety could consider keeping their cat safe within their property, either indoors or in a catio."
He pointed toward advice for keeping cats happy at home on the SPCA website.
In New Zealand cats have the right to trespass, which means they can roam on properties other than their owners and ill treatment of animals including the use of traps or devices that have the potential to cause pain or distress to animals is a crime punishable under the Animal Welfare Act 1999.
If there has been a serious act of cruelty or neglect, the SPCA Inspectorate can prosecute the case through the courts.
Kennedy said she thinks shooting someone's animal is "the most extreme thing you could probably do" and she is "one hundred percent" hoping for the person or people to be prosecuted when they're caught.
"I think they need to sort of understand what they've done isn't right and not do it again. Even if it involves having the air rifle, or gun, or whatever it was, taken off them as well so that they can't do that again," she said.
She said this isn't the first time something like this has happened in the area, citing a post on her local community Facebook page from last year when someone else's cat came home with an air rifle pellet in its tail.
"Someone had put on the community page about the pet coming home with a lump as well and found out it was a pellet, so they put up a post on Facebook to say like 'look, we know cats are annoying, but please don't shoot them'," she said.
Kennedy said her hope for the future is that people will have a conversation with cat owners about their issues before taking matters into their own hands.
"If people are getting fed up with cats on their property, they can talk to their neighbour and then come up with a solution to so that cats aren't getting shot you know. There's a better solution out there".
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