A cat has seemingly lost two of its nine lives after being shot with a pellet gun and breaking a paw in an illegal gin trap just days apart.
Horrific pictures show one-year-old Violet’s bloodied paw caught in the jaws of the banned trap after she was rescued by Jodie Barratt, 33, from a neighbouring garden.
Another sickening photograph shows blood and hair remaining on the trap after Violet was freed.
Violet could potentially have to have her leg amputated because the trap refused to come off her leg for so long.
A ‘gin-trap’ is a mechanical device designed to catch an animal by the leg or head using spring operated jaws and was made illegal in England and Wales in 1958 and in Scotland in 1971.
Jodie heard the cat screaming at around 7am on Saturday morning and rushed towards the noise.
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She found Violet stuck in the contraption on a neighbouring roof – after the cat had dragged herself up some steps and onto the top of the building.
Jodie believes the trap must have been set by someone who hates cats.
She said: ‘It was absolutely shocking.
‘I heard the screaming and I had honestly not heard anything like it.
‘The cat had dragged herself up some steps from a nearby garden and onto the roof next door, that is where I found her.
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‘She had managed to drag her paw in the trap all of the way up the steps and onto the roof.
‘It was horrible.’
Violet is currently recovering at an animal hospital after she suffered a break in the bone in her paw.
On Tuesday 24 July, Jodie said Violet was also shot with a pellet gun, although she was only treated with antibiotics due to the minor injury.
She added: ‘I have never heard pain like the sound she was making when I found her in the trap.’
Jodie has now contacted both the police to make a statement and the RSPCA.
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