CONVICTED (2021) | Patrick Medford, born c. 1940, of 9 Yew Tree Close, Welling DA16 3BY – shot a cat with an air rifle, killing her
Medford admitted shooting his neighbour’s cat, Ethel, in the abdomen with an air rifle. The pellet was embedded in Ethel’s intestines and despite emergency surgery to save her, she sadly died.
RSPCA Inspector Harriet Daliday was contacted by Ethel’s owner, who told her she had received a series of threatening emails from Medford about the cat being in his garden. The neighbour said that Medford had an air rifle which he used to shoot pigeons.
Inspector Daliday visited Medford at his address and was shown the rifle in the upstairs rear bedroom overlooking the garden. The garden also had multiple cat scarers and an automatic sprinkler system used to scare off cats and foxes.
A police ballistics report proved that the pellet extracted from Ethel matched Medford’s rifle.
The court heard vet reports stating Ethel was in severe shock and severe abdominal pain when they examined her just two hours after she came home vomiting and clearly in pain.
The report stated: “She could not walk and had a very low heart rate. An X-ray was taken of her abdomen and this revealed a shotgun pellet clearly visible in her abdomen. We also found a fresh puncture wound on her abdomen consistent with a recent puncture from a pellet. Ethel was stabilized overnight and had exploratory abdominal surgery the following day.
“During this surgery four puncture wounds were found in her intestines where the pellet had penetrated. Two punctures were in her small intestine and two in her colon. Ethel recovered from the surgery however succumbed to sepsis related complications post op and died despite all our best efforts.”
Speaking after the prosecution, Inspector Daliday added: “This is a tragic case in which a cat was callously shot and sadly died. This would have caused poor Ethel suffering and also caused a lot of heartbreak for her owner who lost her much-loved pet.
“Unfortunately, air rifle attacks are not as rare as we would like. The injuries caused by such attacks are horrific and often fatal as was the case with poor Ethel.”
Sentencing: 16 weeks in custody, suspended for two years. Ordered to pay £600 in costs as well as £2,036 in compensation to Ethel’s owner. Disqualified from keeping all animals indefinitely.
Absolutely Heart Breaking.
Please please unless you are living in a Rural Location.
Keep your Cats Indoors. Get them Spayed / Neutered. Get them a Cat Scratching Post, Toys and Balls, A Bed they can call their own, Litter and Litter Tray, and Food and Water.
It is not the ideal world for Cats to live out side, unless you live rural. They get killed on the road. Gardeners regularly Poison them. There are also some cruel children and adults out there, that particularly Do Not Like Cats.
I’m not hiding my cats away, thanks, big brain.