Cat euthanized after being shot and paralyzed
Shelter officials and community members are searching for answers after a cat was shot and paralyzed in Pittsburgh.
By PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania
Click here for updates on this story
PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (KDKA) — Shelter officials and community members are searching for answers after a cat was shot and paralyzed in Pittsburgh’s Brookline neighborhood.
Jan Perry lives on Oakridge Street in Brookline. She’s been taking care of an outdoor cat that has spent time in her yard for a year now.
This summer, the cat’s been caring for her litter of five kittens. Perry recently found the mother cat lying in her yard, and she thought she may have been hit by a vehicle.
“Because she was dragging herself. She couldn’t walk. So, I thought maybe she was clipped on her back legs and couldn’t walk,” Perry said. “I picked her up and she just looked at me like, ‘help me.'”
She called animal control, and officers took the cat and her kittens to Humane Animal Rescue of Pittsburgh. After that, Perry said she got terrible news about the cat.
“A lady that I know that runs the pet pantry there called me and told me that somebody shot her, and she was paralyzed, and her spine was broken,” Perry said.
She was told the cat was shot with a BB gun or pellet gun. HARP officials told KDKA that X-rays showed a pellet had severed the spine, causing paralysis. The cat had to be euthanized.
The kittens are only a few weeks old and are being cared for in a foster home until they’re ready for adoption.
HARP is looking for information, and Perry hopes anyone with cameras on her street might’ve captured the shooting on video.
“I have no idea who would do that. She didn’t go around people because she was afraid of people. She only trusted me and my granddaughter. And she didn’t get in garbage because she always had food, so I don’t know,” Perry said.
HARP has no witness accounts so far, and anyone with information on who shot the cat in the Oakridge Street area of Brookline should call HARP’s humane investigations team at 412-345-7300, extension 252.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.
