Two cats shot with air rifle
A Shropshire woman today called for a change in the law governing the use of air rifles after her two pet cats were shot.
Both animals had to undergo life-saving surgery following the attack, which their owner Elizabeth Busby, from Leegomery, says has become all too common in Telford.
The devastated bus driver said she wanted to see the laws regarding air rifles tightened in line with other firearms.
Currently people do not need a gun licence to possess an air rifle or to register that they own one.
Mrs Busby, 38, said both cats, which are aged three-years-old, had been "backwards and forwards to the vets", since they were found injured earlier this month, and were still not right.
She said her 13-year-old daughter, Alicia, woke up on February 17 to find Kess bleeding on her bed and they later discovered she had been shot.
"When we went to have a look, her leg was hanging off," she said.
"We thought she had broken it but when we took her to the vet he said it looked more like a bullet wound.
"He told us to go home and check the other cat, Flash, and I found he'd been shot as well and the bullet had gone right through him and was lodged in his side. Luckily it missed his vital organs but the vet said he was very lucky to be alive."
She said she felt "angry" and "devastated" by what had happened to the cats.
"If this had been a small child, what would have happened then," she said.
Constable Pete Simmonds, of Telford police, urged anyone with information on the shootings to contact 08457 444888.
By Becky Parkinson
