A CRUEL thug who set up an illegal trap which caught and injured a cat has today been described as “barbaric” by the RSPCA. A young cat is today recovering from a broken bone and skin wounds after it was found snared in a gin trap.

A CRUEL thug who set up an illegal trap which caught and injured a cat has today been described as “barbaric” by the RSPCA.

A young cat is today recovering from a broken bone and skin wounds after it was found snared in a gin trap.

The cat, a female less than a year old, was discovered in a garden in Ayr Road yesterday by a neighbour who heard it crying out in pain.

It is believed to have dragged itself into brambles in the garden after getting caught in the trap.

The cat was rescued by the RSPCA and taken to Smith Ryder-Davies and Partners vets, in Ipswich, for treatment.

Marc Niepold, RSPCA inspector, said: “It's a barbaric person who would set up a trap like this.

“The trap has a serrated edge and is a pretty vicious machine and whoever set it up would have known the result.

“These traps have been illegal in this country since 1954 but unfortunately people can still buy them at car boot sales so they are still around.

“Normally they would be staked into the ground but this one was loose so the cat was able to drag it along and has got stuck in a random garden.

“It's lucky that someone heard it.”

Results from x-rays ands tests at the vets show the cat has broken a bone in her foot. She also has a large amount of swelling and wounds to the skin.

Heather Collinson, practise manager at the vets, said: “She's been relatively lucky. I've seen gin trap injuries before that have been a lot worse.

“It's lucky she was found quickly as sometimes animals get left for days, the wound gets infected and they have to have their legs amputated.

“There's no reason for people to have these traps and what's happened is extremely cruel.

“Having said that, in Ipswich we are quite lucky as incidents like this are rare. We get the occasional case like this and occasional cases where cats are shot with air gun pellets but it does not happen an awful lot.”

The cat, who has short black hair and was wearing a blue flee collar, is being cared for at an RSPCA animal home until its owner can be traced.

Anyone who has information about people who set up traps like this, or who knows who the cat belongs to, is asked to call the RSPCA on 0870 55 55 999.

WEBLINK:

www.rspca.org.uk

Have you witnesses an act of animal cruelty? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk