An Orange Grove resident was horrified when she came home to find her cat’s tail degloved on New Year’s Day.
Degloving is when a large amount of skin is removed from an appendage and usually requires amputation.
When Portia Gericke and her family came home from holiday on 1 January, they were very worried when they found blood everywhere. Gericke said they found their cat, 18-month-old Batman, with his tail skin almost completely off. She said they took him to the vet and about two-thirds of his tail had to be amputated.
According to Gericke, they believed that he was hurt as a result of children misusing fireworks on New Year’s Eve. “I’m so disgusted and shocked. We don’t know exactly what happened and I don’t know why someone would want to hurt our cat.”
Batman is currently doing well and is recovering with a protective cone around his head due to his exposed stitches.
Dr David Moore of the Orange Grove Veterinary clinic said Batman was brought in on New Year’s Day in a traumatised state with his entire tail degloved. Moore added that the possibility of fireworks being involved in the injury was still speculation but that fireworks could have caused the cat to panic and forced him to find refuge. He said deglovings usually occured due to severance from a sharp object such as a licence plate or mudguard.
Ward 73 councillor Eleanor Huggett, who visited the family, said, “I am an animal lover myself with my own rescue animals at home. I was absolutely shocked to the core when I heard this story. I think people are allowed to use fireworks but with very strict controls so no one gets hurt.”
She added that Orange Grove was inundated with vendors who imported and sold illegal fireworks. Section 30 of the municipal by-laws prohibit the use of any fireworks near animals.
Details: Eleanor Huggett
071 785 8068.
Also read:
Fireworks season is upon us – know how to protect your vulnerable pets
