Someone's got it in for Joey the cat.
The Bastia Hill moggy has turned up dyed pink, completely shaved and dumped at the SPCA after previous disappearances. Now he's missing again.
Distraught owner Rachael Kennedy fears the worst. "This time he has gone missing two years to the day after his
first disappearance. It is very odd. "He has been missing for six days. He is part of the family, and the longer he is missing the more tears there are.
"It's the same as losing a child. My greatest fear is that he has been dumped somewhere," Miss Kennedy said.
Joey has been missing for six days and she is losing hope of ever finding him.
Miss Kennedy, who lives on D'Arcy Rd, has been searching high and low for her beloved pet. She says Joey isn't the only pet in the street to suffer at the hands of a malicious person.
"A person in our street said their cat's back had been seriously damaged (which was identified through X-rays), and some neighbours have told me their cats have gone missing for a few days," she said. The cat bandit left a note around Joey's neck after he was shaved, giving clues to the catnapper's motives.
"The note said, 'Good job, hopefully he will stay inside from now on,' and that my cat had been eating their cat's food," she said. SPCA centre manager Val Waters said this kind of cruelty didn't happen that often.
"Thank God it doesn't happen that much. I think someone has got it in for Joey." Miss Kennedy has reported all the incidents to the police. Wanganui police acting senior sergeant Darcy Forrester said that, in extreme cases of animal abuse when the animal needed to be put down, the penalty was a three-year jail term or a $50,000 fine. Miss Kennedy is offering a $50 reward to anyone who can return her cat safely.
She can be contacted on (06) 343 1032.
