QUALICUM BEACH, BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA - A badly injured cat is now being nursed back to health in Qualicum, after an apparent act of animal cruelty.
Cradled in the arms of Vet Technician Melissa Bulmer, Marconi is purring once again, finding himself in good hands now.
“He really came out of his shell after about two days of being here. And now he’s a little love bug,” says Bulmer at Qualicum Bay’s Lighthouse Veterinary Hospital.
It’s a far cry from how a stray cat was found one week ago, after he was spotted wrapped up in wire while feeding at a Qualicum home.
“The wire had actually started growing into the cat so it was taking off and initially thought it was a snare until a closer look was taken and the wire was actually put on and twisted on,” says Qualicum Cat Rescue’s Barb Ashmead.
“It saddens me that people who do this to an animal. It’s just a complete lack of respect for life,” says Bulmer.
The damage was so severe around the cat’s torso, that the young male likely wouldn’t have survived much longer and in two surgeries had to be literally sewn back together.
“Because the wire had eaten in,” says Bulmer.
Most disturbing of all is this isn’t the first cat that’s been targeted like this. It was found in Qualicum Beach’s downtown, just a few blocks from where another cat was found injured like this a few months back.
“Someone is doing this deliberately and so there is someone out there who probably has a mental illness that needs to be dealt with,” says Ashmead.
The SPCA is now investigating but Barb Ashmead of Qualicum Cat Rescue
is now wondering if there aren’t more victims out there.
“This could have definitely killed him had it not been attended to,” says Bulmer.
Either strays who have not been cared for by a veterinarian or cats that have been found wrapped in wire, and who’s owners haven’t come forward for some reason.
“If any more cats have been taken to vets if they have been we’d like the to contact us so that we can then put more cases to the RCMP,” says Ashamed.
In the meantime, Marconi will continue to recover at the Lighthouse Veterinary Clinic, as the Qualicum Cat Rescue works to find him a loving forever home and put an end to this animal cruelty that’s put him in here with the help of the public.