A HORRIFIED cat owner whose pet had its paw brutally sliced off by an illegal trap today blasted the callous individual responsible.

A HORRIFIED cat owner whose pet had its paw brutally sliced off by an illegal trap today blasted the callous individual responsible.

Kesgrave woman Sue Cooper found her pet Holly hobbling around in a neighbour's garden several weeks after the two-and-a-half-year-old cat had gone missing.

The gruesome discovery came days after a neighbour found a dead fox in her back garden - with part of one of its legs missing.

Today a Suffolk cat welfare group voiced its disgust at the senseless maiming, offering a £500 reward for any information on who set the vicious trap.

Ms Cooper said: “As soon as we found her we took her to the vet who confirmed it was a trap which had caused the injury. He said that it's possible she might have to have her whole leg off because of this.

“It's awful. I can't understand who would do something like this.”

Pat Kettle, from the Ipswich branch of the Cats Protection group which has put up the reward, added: “It's absolutely wicked.

“We are getting more and more cats coming to us with pellets in them, which is also a concern. This sort of thing has to stop.

“It looks like the trap was a snare or gin trap, both of which are illegal.

“The animals can die from wounds like that and it can be very slow and very painful.”

Today's shocking story comes only a month after a one-year-old cat was found about a mile from Ms Cooper's Kesgrave home caught in a gin trap.

The female cat, which was found crying in pain in a back garden in Ayr Road, was slightly more fortunate than Holly - it suffered a broken bone and skin wounds. The incident prompted RSPCA officials to brand the thugs responsible as “barbaric”.

Ms Cooper, a healthcare support worker, had only taken Holly in at the start of December. She was a wild cat and was in the process of being tamed when she escaped from the house.

Ms Cooper said that despite her ordeal, the brave moggy was settling in well.

She continued: “She's OK. The wound has healed over when we found her, the damage was clearly done sometime ago.

“Her missing paw doesn't seem to bother her too much. She manages to hobble around with it.

“She seems to be happy enough, purring away, and she likes being stroked.”

If you have information about who is responsible for this attack or any other act of animal cruelty call Cats Protection on 01728 747115 or 01473 690084.

The reward will be given to anyone who provides information which leads to a conviction.

Weblinks: www.rspca.org.uk; www.cats.org.uk

A Suffolk family's cat was found strangled with a child's skipping rope in the front garden of their home. The cat was discovered in a bush in the garden of their home in Kessingland.

A gang of youths threw a toddler's pet kitten in front of a passing car and then filmed it on their mobiles. Chip, a seven-month-old black and white kitten, had gone missing from the family home in Bicester, Oxfordshire.

A cat in Jersey was shot with 15 pellets.

A Leicester man was arrested on suspicion of shooting and injuring a cat with an air rifle.

A pet cat was found decapitated and without its tail in a field. Sooty, a 15-month-old black male, had been missing for a week when its remains were discovered in Faverdale, Darlington, County Durham.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk