BRUTAL injuries to a beloved pet cat have triggered a police investigation.
Barnard Castle’s Kevin Proffitt was stunned to find his 11-year-old feline Buster return to his Zetland Road home with only one eye last Thursday after he was struck by an air rifle pellet.
Emergency surgery prevented Buster from being put down but Mr Proffit was left upset by the ordeal.
“I’m not happy about it at all – the vet bill cost me £300 and I’m on a low income,” said Mr Proffitt.
“He’s a lovely cat and as soft as anything so it’s terrible what they’ve done.”
Buster roams around Dawson Road, Zetland Road and over the back on Kalafat.
He was missing on Wednesday last week before returning home with facial disfigurement on Thursday.
Mr Proffitt added: “His eye had just imploded – there was nothing left of it.
“He’s been stressed out – he’s not let me go anywhere near him.”
Buster has now returned home from the vets but has not ventured outside since he was hurt. Mr Proffitt keeps a number of cats with his wife, Tracy, and has lived on Zetland Road for 25 years.
The 60-year-old is living with throat cancer and said his pets were the among the only things which kept him going. Mr Proffitt added: “I kept an air rifle when I was young but I never used to go around doing things like this.
“I’d be so annoyed if they got away with it. We don’t want it to happen to anyone else or a bairn.”
PC Harry Marsh, from Barnard Castle Police, said he was investigating the suspected shooting.
He added: “We are making enquiries in the area – anyone with any information should contact the police.
“We take any matters of animal cruelty extremely seriously and we’d like to take positive action with anyone found discharging air weapons or firearms – particularly in public places where we have animals and the public.”
If you have any information, contact Barnard Castle police on 101.
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
