MICHIGAN: Battle Creek police are looking for the person who allegedly shot a cat with a crossbow.
“I went out to get my recycling bins,” said Laurie Sullivan, “and he was laying under a tree. He had known me and had been here before.”
It was a cat Sullivan, a former Battle Creek City Commissioner, had seen and fed before at her home in the past on Frelinghuysen Avenue, and at first she thought he had just come by for some food.
But then she noticed the 15-inch arrow sticking in his neck.
“I was mortified,” she said. “He lifted his head and looked at me and let me pick him up.”
Sullivan, who has rescued cats in the past, called Dr. Benjamin Huelsbergen at Turner Veterinary Clinic, 3070 W. Michigan Ave.
It was about 8 a.m. Tuesday and the doctor agreed to see cat immediately and was able to remove the arrow.
“The arrow passed through the skin from left to right,” Huelsbergen said. “It didn’t damage any muscle or bone in the neck, basically passing through the nape of the neck only. The arrow pulled out easily and should heal nicely with appropriate antibiotics.”
Sullivan said she is keeping the cat quarantined inside her house while he receives the medication for the next 10 days and said she expects him to recover fully.
She said she believes the cat was shot over the weekend.
Police are looking for information about the shooting, said Battle Creek Animal Control Officer Mike Ehart.
“Shooting a cat is a felony,” he said. “The animal cruelty or torture charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.”
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Battle Creek Police Department at 966-3322 or Silent Observer at 964-3888.
The shooting parallels another case reported last month in Eaton County. A cat was shot through the chest with a crossbow in Kalamo Township and required surgery, the Lansing State Journal reported.
This particular cat is going to be OK. Let’s all hope so and let’s also hope they find the scumbag who shot him.