AN agonised cat managed to crawl home with its leg caught in a vicious, steel-toothed trap.
The illegal “gin trap” attached to Bill’s front paw was so big the poor moggy got caught in the catflap at its owners’ home.
Bill was found by Scott MacEachern who said he needed to use considerable force to prise open the jaws of the device.
The cat’s paw “swelled up to around four times its normal size” but he was lucky not to suffer any permanent injuries.
Scott and his wife, Emma Hickey, from Strathpeffer, Ross and Cromarty, released an image of the trap – with Bill’s fur still attached – in a bid to help catch the culprit.
Emma said: “He just stands stands at the back door. He’s still not keen on going out””.
She added: “It was a bit of a shock. I honestly didn’t think traps like that were still in circulation. To find him stuck in something so ancient and archaic and gruesome was pretty shocking. My husband found him halfway through the catflap.”
The type of trap that injured Bill on February 10 has been illegal for more than half a century.
Divisional Wildlife Crime Liaison Officer PC Daniel Sutherland said: “This type of trap is illegal in its design and use.
“These types of ‘gin traps’ have been illegal for a considerable period however do come to our attention from time to time. They are indiscriminate in the victims they catch and cause great suffering to any animal caught, which in this case was a domestic cat.”
“I would fully encourage the public to report all incidents of wildlife crime to Police Scotland. Any information relating to this matter can be reported to an officer via 101 or through Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 111 555.”
