Ruby Fisher’s cat Jeffrey after having his leg amputated. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
By Jake Beleski
Clareville woman Ruby Fisher describes finding her injured cat in an illegal gin trap as the “worst thing I’ve ever seen”.
Ruby’s cat, Jeffrey, had been missing for three days when they found him stuck in the trap at about 10pm last Friday night.
He has since had to have a leg amputated, at a cost of over $1300.
Jeffrey was lying motionless with his leg caught in the trap when he was found in a paddock behind the property, and Ruby and her boyfriend worked frantically to try and free him.
“The stressful part was trying to get it off him as soon as possible,” Ruby said.
“It was absolutely traumatic . . . I’d never seen a trap like this so we weren’t even sure how to undo it.”
The family had already searched their entire property to try and locate Jeffrey, and Ruby said he must have dragged himself to where they eventually found him.
“It (the trap) must have been from one of the neighbouring properties, we assume, but there’s a bit of unknown.
“We’ve never seen anything like that in the area before.”
The SPCA was contacted the following day, and they had sent somebody around to investigate.
It was hoped they could get a warrant to search a nearby property after baling twine was found wrapped around the trap itself, she said.
“It might be enough evidence to get a warrant, but otherwise they’re fairly restricted.”
Jeffrey is about six years old, and Ruby wanted to raise awareness of the danger of gin traps after hearing about similar incidents.
“There is a possibility that he stumbled across it, but as everybody knows cats are very wary and smart creatures.
“The real worry would be that they put some meat in the trap or something . . . they might be targeting cats but it’s just as bad if they’re so ignorant that they just have them around.”
Jeffrey was now recovering from his surgery, which had gone “really well” considering the circumstances.
“The whole leg from the shoulder has been removed.
“He’s ok but he’s been through a lot.”
Would make sense to show picture of illegal Gin trap involved in incident,so people are aware of what they look like and can report sightings to Police, rather than a picture of a Leghold #1 trap that is quite legal to use away from urban areas as long as all laws are complied with during use.