Cat used for target practice by gun thugs loses leg

A STRAY cat has been found horrifically injured after being shot by an airgun up to 40 times.

Animal welfare workers thought the cat had been involved in a car crash after he was discovered limping on the the streets of South Queensferry. But after vets took an X-ray (pictured above), they were stunned to discover pellets riddled throughout his body.

It is believed the "friendly" cat, which staff have named Stanley, was held down while being repeatedly shot, leaving him so badly injured that one of his legs had to be amputated.

The Scottish SPCA today appealed for information to trace those responsible for the "mindless" attack before they strike again.

Stanley, who is believed to have been a stray in the area for a number of years, was found last week on Springfield Road by a local resident, who contacted the charity.

Emma Boyd, an ambulance driver with the organisation, said she had never seen an animal that had been shot so many times before.

She said: "If you shoot a cat with a BB or pellet gun, it will just run away, so we're talking about something really nasty here.

"There's no doubt that whoever did this managed to either trap this poor creature or hold it down, and then has just kept shooting until they had no more pellets left.

"We originally thought that he'd been in a road accident, as he had a nasty-looking wound on his back leg.

"It was so bad that we had to amputate it, and, after the vet found a pellet when stitching him up, we decided to take some X-rays to see if there were any more. When we got the results, we couldn't believe it.

"His body was just riddled with pellets, and there must have been around 40 of them.