A DISTRAUGHT Felixstowe family today issued a heartfelt warning for pet owners to be on the lookout for deadly snares similar to the one that killed their much-loved cat.

A DISTRAUGHT Felixstowe family today issued a heartfelt warning for pet owners to be on the lookout for deadly snares similar to the one that killed their much-loved cat.

The Cracknell family were devastated when 13-month-old cat Sausage went missing from their Vicarage Road home but the discovery of the black-and-white cat trapped in a snare in a nearby garden has left them reeling.

"It was very distressing," Sausage's owner Chris Cracknell said.

"These snares should not be allowed - it's just not humane."

Sausage went missing on August 13 and after the Cracknells appealed to Evening Star readers and issued a £100 reward for news of her whereabouts a local vicar contacted them to say he had found the dead cat in his garden.

She had been killed by the snare and was either dumped in the garden after her death or crawled there before she died.

The RSPCA is investigating the use of the snare and trying to locate the person who set it but it is unclear whether it was used illegally.

Often the traps are used by game and stock keepers to kill foxes.

The RSPCA's Inspector for Ipswich David Mitchell said: "There are some that are legal and some that are illegal.

"But they should be checked every 24 hours. Whoever has done this has shown a complete lack of responsibility.

"If they're left in an indiscriminate area they could snare any kind of animal.

"The RSPCA takes matters like this very seriously."

Mr Cracknell, his wife Kay and their children William, 19, Ben 16, and Joshua, 9, are now wondering how to protect their three other cats, Sausage's father Arthur, brother Gizmo and sister Sophie, from suffering a similar fate.

Sausage was found less than 100 metres from the Cracknell home in a residential part of Felixstowe - a fact that has prompted the family to urge other pet owners to take extra care of their pets.

"There does need to be a warning for other pet owners," Mr Cracknell said.

"Most of the cats in the area wander over that way. We don't know whether to let our other three out now."

Mr Cracknell has also called for an end to the use of snares and traps.

"You just can't set these traps to catch rabbits and foxes, it's just not fair to those animals," he said.

"Ethically it's got to be wrong. It could have been a small child who wandered into someone's garden and got it's foot caught."

What do you think about the use of snares and traps? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN or send us an e-mail to eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk or visit the forum at www.eveningstar.co.uk.