Reward offer after cat loses eye

A cat blasted with a shotgun as it prowled near its home near Shifnal has had its eye removed by vets.

Watch our exclusive video report here.

Ollie, a three-year-old ginger cat, underwent an operation yesterday after it was shot in the right eye.

Today owner Ray Stickland offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the gunman.

“If someone can bring this person to book, I’ll give them £1,000,” he said. “How anyone can do that to a pretty little animal like that, I don’t know.”

The shooting happened on Saturday evening and Ollie returned home at 9pm with several wounds.

He had been shot at close range and between 25 and 30 fragments of shot were embedded beneath his skin. He underwent surgery on Sunday morning and returned to the vet’s yesterday.

Mr Stickland, a Shifnal town and Bridgnorth district councillor, said: “The police are looking at the computer database to see who has shotguns.

“It’s not safe when people can do things like that. It beggars belief.”

Mr Stickland’s daughter, Lucy, 21, said: “We took Ollie to the vets yesterday and he was checked over. They had to remove his eye because he was shot right through it.

“We’ve been asking around to try and find out more about who did it, but there’s no reason and no excuse. Whoever shot him would have been close enough to have seen he was a defenceless cat.”

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 08457 444888.