Month of woes for Benoni cats

At least seven cats fell victim to poisonings, snare traps and pellet gun shootings in Benoni during the past few weeks.

Mulan was found in a snare in Marister after she was missing for two weeks.

According to Annalise Jungmann, from The Animal Guardians (Tag), another cat was shot in Agate Street, Farrarmere during the weekend of May 6 and 7.

This comes after two Northmead cats returned to their homes on April 28 and 30 respectively, with several wounds.

The wounds on both cats appeared to have been caused by airgun pellets, with one cat being hit near its left eye.

The other cat’s hind leg had to be amputated following the incident.

Jungmann added Tag received three reports of cats being poisoned at residences in Northmead in the past week.

“I think someone in the area is being vindictive against cats, based on all the shootings and poisonings of cats,” Jungmann said.

In a separate incident, residents in Marister discovered and removed over 60 snares on a vacant plot in the area on May 10.

Jonty Cornes, who lives nearby, discovered his neighbours’ cat in one of the snares after which the community came out to remove the traps.

The cat, Mulan, had been missing for nearly two weeks, but her owners don’t believe she was caught in the snare for that time.

Shadé Schmidt, Mulan’s owner, said she only sustained minor injuries around her neck and lost some weight, but will recover in time.

“The vet said Mulan is a fighter and couldn’t believe she was trapped for so long,” Schmidt said.