South Auckland cat Sonic had her leg broken when she was shot by a pellet gun. It came just over a year after she was also thrown from a moving car. Photo / Supplied
South Auckland cat Sonic had her leg broken when she was shot by a pellet gun. It came just over a year after she was also thrown from a moving car. Photo / Supplied
An Auckland cat has been shot just over a year after she was thrown out of a moving car as a kitten.
Sonic the moggy was shot in in the leg her South Auckland neighbourhood of Alfriston.
Owner Karla Habgood said Sonic came rushing home through an open window andslumped to the ground.
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Sonic and 9 Lives Orphanage founder Alisha Sinclair after she was thrown from a moving car in South Auckland as a kitten. Photo / Supplied
Habgood could only see a small amount of blood but the cat wasn't moving around so she thought Sonic had been bitten by a dog.
However, after taking her to an emergency veterinary surgery, Habgood learned Sonic's back leg had been broken by a slug pellet that was still inside her.
"That is not the news you want to hear at 3 o'clock in the morning," Habgood said.
"I treat my animals like they're children - so it was really hard to hear."
Sonic's second close escape came after she survived almost unhurt being hurled out the window of a moving car on Mill Rd in Alfriston in January last year.
Another motorist tookher to the 9 Lives Orphanage. They thought she was only 10 weeks old.
But apart from being severely underweight and having graze marks on her legs, Sonic was in good health.
The slug pellet can be seen inside Sonic's body after it also broke her leg. Photo / Supplied
After a Herald a story about her remarkable survival, 9 Lives founder Alisha Sinclair was flooded with requests from people wanting to adopt Sonic, but Sinclair gave the cat to her friend Habgoodand Sonic had been happily living her life with her two corgi buddies until humans hurt her for the second time. The emergency surgeries and follow-up care led to more than $4000 in bills so far, and Habgood has started a Givealittle page to help with the costs.
Sonic is recovering but her vet bills have soared to more than $4000. Photo / Supplied
Although the operation was successful, Sonic has lost most of the feeling to her injured leg and often walks on the knuckle of the leg, dragging it, rather than walking on her paw.
Habgood said she suspected she knew her shot her cat but couldn't prove it.
She said she rang police but they said there was not much they could do without proof.
The senseless attack came after another cat owner also posted on an Auckland community Facebook page yesterday that her cat had also been shot with a 0.22 calibre bullet.
An X-ray had shown the cat's leg was shattered in multiple places, the owner said.
Shrapnel and part of the bullet lodged in the cat's tricep muscle and below her left ribs.
"The vet said there was so much soft tissue damage that they had to cut out significant pieces of flesh," she said.
"While humanity has the option to be kinder to one another as we go through one of the toughest times in our living history, some among us have elected to inflict cruelty on those who can't talk back and defend themselves."
Meanwhile, the New Zealand Veterinary Association said there was not enough evidence yet to prove whether the Covid-19 could live on the fur of pet animals and be transmitted to humans.
Sonic as a small kitten recovering from being thrown out of a moving car. Photo / Supplied
"Despite a second dog in Hong Kong testing positive for the Covid-19 virus, there is no reliable evidence that animals are playing a role in the widespread transmission of the disease between humans or other animals," the association's chief veterinary officer Dr Helen Beattie said.
"We are being guided by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), and the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA). Both dogs that tested positive were living with people affected by Covid-19."
She said both organisations recommend owners affected by Covid-19 take similar precautions in interacting with their animals, as they would with people, including physical distancing as much as practical and good hygiene practices.
