Pet cat found with .22-calibre bullet in its leg (7 photos)

After her cat was mysteriously shot in Searchmont last month, Andrea Pinheiro wants others to know about the danger.

On Saturday, Sept. 9, Pinheiro let Benny, her six-year-old black cat, out to play in the woods surrounding her part-time Whitman Dam Road home for the day — it was the cats normal routine.

Pinheiro went out for the day then returned home and relaxed on the couch in the evening when Benny came back to the house. However, she and her partner Erik Nowak noticed the cat was walking strangely.

Upon closer inspection, the cat had two wounds — one on his belly, another on his upper thigh.

“Initially, we just thought he fell out of a tree and got punctured on something because it didn’t smell or look like a fight,” said Nowak.

First thing the next morning, Pinheiro drove Benny to Chippewa Animal Clinic in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Besides an obvious broken leg, vets x-rayed Benny and to everyone’s surprise they discovered a .22-calibre lead-tipped bullet wedged into the lower part of his left hind leg.

“They were shocked and I was shocked… they usually find BB shots in animals, but not 22s,” said Pinheiro.

Pinheiro immediately called Nowak in Searchmont who then called the Ontario Provincial Police.

OPP inspectors came out, took a statement and interviewed neighbours but nothing came of their investigation, said OPP Const. Monique Baker.

“I was impressed they came out,” said Nowak, who was told there was no reported pattern of animal shootings in Searchmont.

The Searchmont property is surrounded by forest and swamp in every direction.

There are several homes and camps nearby, and it’s pretty common for people to be hunting or just shooting logs in their backyard.

“Animals don’t pay attention to property lines,” said Pinheiro.

Nowak wants to believe Benny’s injury was because the cat had just gotten into the path of a bullet. But as an avid hunter himself, a former butcher, and "someone who watches lots of CSI", he’s not so sure.

“We were in shock. It’s a despicable act whether it was an accident or on purpose,” said Nowak. “The trajectory of the bullet is that (it seems that) it grazed his belly and went into his thigh which means he was directly facing the person shooting at him, in my opinion… It is Searchmont, I understand that and there are lots of people that do target practice, which is understandable in the environment out here. (However), one of the hunter's responsibilities is to know what’s beyond your shot.”

Although Benny was wearing a bright white flea collar, he could have been in the way of bullet or mistaken for another animal.

“It’s possible that there was a group of people sitting around a campfire having some drinks, they heard something in the bush and had an old .22 hand gun in their possession and took a shot at it,” said Nowak.

The decision to fix Benny was difficult because of the $2,000 cost — which required a loan — but Pinheiro decided to do it.

Benny was kept at the animal hospital on Sunday evening. On Monday, Sept. 11 the bullet was removed, and the cat’s leg was fused back together using cold laser surgery and kept in place with a five-pin external ‘fixator’ — a piece of metal externally attached to the cat’s leg.

Benny was brought back home Tuesday and by Friday he was his normal self, though of course hobbling a bit with the fixator which is scheduled to be removed in November.

“I just don’t want anyone else’s cats being hurt,” said Pinheiro. “I run in the bush and take the dog in the bush (and) you also shouldn’t have to worry about getting shot yourself.”

Both Baker and Humane Society manager Cindy Ross said it’s uncommon for domestic animals to be shot like this.