Shot cat Santa back home safe and well

LITTLE MIRACLE: Heidi Ward-McGrath with Santa the cat which survived being shot three times in the head.PHOTO/LYNDA FERINGA

Santa the cat - shot three times in the head - has returned home.

The 4-year-old part Siamese tomcat, which attracted donations worldwide and a $1500 bounty on the head of his attacker, was shot at its Cameron Cres neighbourhood a week ago Sunday, while owner Angela Speers and family were celebrating the third birthday of her son, Phillip.

Ms Speers, a solo mother of three, was determined to give Santa every chance of recovery and, despite the burden of veterinary bills, had taken her cat to VetCare Veterinary Hospital in Masterton for treatment.

Heidi Ward-McGrath discovered three pellets were still lodged in the cat's head, one having penetrated its left eye socket and threatening the sight in that eye.

She surgically removed two of the pellets and, after a second surgery to debride the left eye, decided to leave the third pellet in place as Santa's full sight was returning.

Dr Ward-McGrath had also launched a Santa Fund to help Ms Speers pay for the treatment and, after the Wairarapa Times-Age broke news of the shooting of Santa, donations poured in from across New Zealand and internationally.

The overwhelming generosity of donors topped more than $2000, easily paying for Santa's treatment, and led to the founding of the VetCare Angel Fund out of the Masterton clinic that would help fund treatment for any animals of similar abuse from across New Zealand, Dr Ward-McGrath said.

A benefactor had pledged to donate monthly to the fund and Dr Ward-McGrath said her professional peers around New Zealand were supportive and had offered to help.

She said Santa was recovering his sight and full health and he remained an endearing and social animal and was reunited with his family on Wednesday.

She also believed the bounty - $500 from an anonymous Masterton businessman and $1000 from national animal welfare group Paw Justice - would help keep Santa safe at home.

She said there had been no claims made on the bounty yet, but she was confident somebody would sooner or later come forward.

"I'm hopeful the bounty will encourage someone to come forward and the exposure will keep the culprit from ever doing it again.

"Abuse is something that happens in the dark, and as soon as you shine a light on it, it goes away.

"A cat has to be captured or cornered to be shot three times in the head, and the heart and intent of somebody who would do that three times is a red flag - that is an angry person who is likely to be male, likely to be aged 13 to 18." The person was also likely to be living in the near vicinity.

The clinic sent Santa home with a crate Ms Speers could use for him over the next couple of weeks, Dr Ward-McGrath said, and had fitted him with a collar and name tag in the hope "the whole community will love and help care for him as well".

"He's a gift and it's a miracle he survived. He really is a little miracle."