A Stawell pet owner was left outraged when the jaws of an illegal fox trap clamped shut onto her cat’s right leg.
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Amanda Bell was walking inside her Austin Street property about 9.30am on Friday when she heard her partner yell out.
She raced outside and discovered five people huddled around her wounded cat, Garfield.
“Luckily we were next to TK Auto Electrex and they plied the trap off from the cat’s foot,” she said.
“It was terrible, we knew we had to go straight to the vet.”
Ms Bell said her cat was fortunate to escape any broken bones, but the bones in its wrist were left dislocated.
The leg was put in a cast, but Ms Bell said there was a chance it would need to be amputated.
“It is already a $500 vet bill, and it could be $1500 if they need to amputate the leg – I don’t have that sort of money,” she said.
Ms Bell slammed whoever was responsible for placing the illegal fox trap near her home.
“These traps are highly illegal – this is just disgraceful and a barbaric act of animal violence,” she said.
This is just disgraceful and a barbaric act of animal violence.
- Amanda Bell
Ms Bell said they were ready to leave for Ararat at “any minute”, but fortunately still had time to care for the injured cat.
“If we had left five minutes earlier, he could have been stuck in that trap for hours,” she said.
“And it could not have just been another pet, it could even have been a small child.”
Northern Grampians Shire Council manager of environment and community safety Warren Groves said the use of this variety of trap, and many other forms of animal traps, were not only illegal, but also extremely cruel to animals.
"If property owners believe they have issues caused by cats, foxes or other animals, council's local laws team has a number of cat traps which are available free of charge and can be borrowed for deployment on private property simply by contact our local laws team," he said.
Stawell police are also investigating the incident.
Ms Bell launched a social media campaign to help her pay for her cat’s costly vet bills.
The Gofundme page can be accessed at gofundme.com/garfieldsfund.