A mother and daughter have been left ‘devastated’ after their beloved family cat was shot with an air rifle and dumped in a canal.
Thomas the cat was found in the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Clayton-le-Moors by passers-by on Friday, January 5, and left on the embankment overnight. He was taken to a nearby vets practice the next day by strangers, however nothing could be done for him.
It is the latest in a series of sick animal killings in the area after a swan and two pet rabbits were tortured just days apart last month.
The rabbits were stolen out of a hutch on Whalley Road overnight on December 22 and cruelly thrown 30ft onto a motorway.
RSPCA officers also found a swan shot in the head with an air rifle on December 28.
Jade, who lives in Clayton-le-Moors near the canal with daughter Mia Dawson, nine, said they have had Thomas for four years since he was born and has offered a £500 reward for information leading to a conviction.
She told the Observer: “We are devastated. My daughter is devastated. I had to tell her that he had been run over.
“They are running round with weapons and causing harm. They obviously have no conscience.
“They get a five-second giggle and ruin our little family. He’s part of my family. They honestly don’t know what they have done and how much pain they’ve caused.”
Jade, 28, who works at a bookmakers in Accrington, last saw Thomas on Thursday, January 4, and said they were told of his death two days later.
A neighbour reported hearing gunshot sounds around the time of Thomas’s death.
She said: “I don’t remember seeing him on Friday morning when I got up for work. When we hadn’t seen him by Saturday we knew something was very wrong. We were told that some people fished him out of the canal on Friday afternoon. He was left on the embankment all night.
“Someone took him to Town and Country Vets in Clayton-le-Moors. He was frozen solid. He had blood coming from his mouth and nose.
“A neighbour said they heard firing sounds on Friday and all the geese were going wild.”
Lancashire Police could not say if the shooting was linked with the previous incidents. A spokesperson said: “We have had a couple of people’s names sent to us that we are looking into.”
Call 101 quoting log number 1421 of January 6.
