Justice wanted for Wildchild after cruel pellet gun attack
Wildchild is slowly recovering after being shot by a pellet gun.
For Wildchild, a gorgeous ginger cat, it’s lucky that cats have nine lives, as he has used up a number of them.
The two-year-old cat was recently shot with a pellet gun in the right eye and in his left front leg.
Wildchild’s ordeal started when he went missing from his Elspark home on January 7.
“I realised he was gone that morning,” said Marcel Labuschagne, Wildchild’s owner.
“It was at a time when we were experiencing heavy storms in the area and although we searched for him, we couldn’t find him.”
Four days later, on January 10, Wildchild dragged himself back to the place he felt safe and protected – his home.
“At about 6am on my birthday, Wildchild returned,” Marcel said.
“He had been shot with a pellet gun resulting in him losing his eye and breaking his left front leg.
“It’s a miracle he made it home with his injuries.”
A distraught Marcel immediately rushed Wildchild to the vet where he remained for eight days.
He underwent an operation on his leg and pins and wires were installed, as well as the metal fragments from the object he was shot with removed.
The vet also removed metal fragments from his damaged eye and sewed his third eyelid closed to aid with healing.
This stitching has since been removed and he now has partial sight in the eye.
“At first after his operation he couldn’t use his paw and we suspected radial nerve paralysis,” said Marcel.
“I visited him twice a day and would massage his paw to try and help him.
“Then one day, when he was sleeping and dreaming both his paws, started moving and I took this as a good sign.”
Wildchild can now walk again and use the paw, although he walks with a limp.
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He will have the pins checked in his leg in six months and had the stitches removed from the leg on Wednesday.
The cost of his veterinary care has set Marcel back R7 000 so far.
When Wildchild was about six weeks old he came into Marcel’s life.
Marcel was travelling home from the coast when he stopped on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere for a break.
“I heard meowing coming from down an embankment and went to investigate,” he said.
“There was a tiny kitten covered in bugs at the bottom.”
Marcel looked around for other cats or people who may have had some knowledge as to where he came from but eventually seeing no one he took Wildchild with him.
“I had my dog Slash in the car with us but he took to the kitten and the two get on fine,” Marcel said.
Marcel has opened a case of animal cruelty with the police and has reported the matter to the SPCA.
“I can only hope and pray that we get a lead on the perpetrator,” he said.
“I think the incident happened in Fulmar Street which is behind my block on Kingfisher Avenue.
“It makes me sick to think that someone is so disturbed that they would shoot an innocent animal.”
Marcel is hoping that the perpetrator will be found and prosecuted.
Not for only almost killing his innocent cat but also to pay for the vet bills.
“The person should be in jail for this.
“This person must be brought into the public eye for cruelty to animals.
“I want justice for Wildchild,” he said.
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