AFP - Tuesday,
September 22
MELBOURNE (AFP) - – An Australian cat named Smokey survived 13
shots to the head from an air rifle and then found his way home
after what police on Tuesday called a "shocking" act of animal
cruelty.
The nine-year-old moggy turned up on his owners' doorstep
bleeding from his head last week, three days after he went missing
from the family home in Maryborough, central Victoria.
A medical examination revealed 13 pellets lodged in his head and
face. Sergeant Craig Pearse said it was remarkable Smokey had
managed to get home after his ordeal.
"This is just a shocking incident where someone either working
alone or in a group has shown no regard for animal life and left
Smokey for dead," Pearse said.
The distressed feline had to be heavily sedated while 11 of the
pellets were removed, he said, adding that Smokey was expected to
recover.
Animal welfare advocate Hugh Wirth said the incident was
"utterly disgraceful", and that Smokey's tormentors
deserved jail.
"Almost certainly these will be young males around about the age
of 18 to 20 who have done this," said Wirth, Victoria state's
president of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals.
"It's a pattern that we see throughout Australia and
there's only one way to deal with it -- and that's
jail."
Since the abuse of animals crime is rising, I seriously
think that giving death penalty to offenders would be more
effective than jail. Jail once if they are out, they might have the
thought of doing it again.
