Owner of Chepstow cat shot by pellet gun calls for action

Freya the cat was badly injured when she was shot by a pellet gun last month near her owners' home in the Bulwark area of Chepstow.

Vets had to perform emergency surgery to repair her shattered bone, following the incident which outraged her owners and members of the local community.

Since then, owner Helen Livesey-Jones said other residents have come forward with their own accounts of wildlife - and people - being targeted.

The police are investigating the shooting of Freya, and in the meantime Ms Livesey-Jones has called for more awareness around the legality of such weapons in public places.

An x-ray of Freya's injured leg (Image: Mike Cannaby)

Two nearby areas of parkland - Warren Slade and Park Redding Woods - appear to be at the heart of recent complaints, she said.

'Callous indifference'

"People don't know their rights," she told the Argus. "They assume people with rifles have the right to be there shooting."

She added: "A person came forward whose daughter was shot at last year.

"Warren Slade is used by an awful lot of families, and kids on bikes."

Ms Livesey-Jones said a local conservationist had reported an estimated drop in the amount of wildlife in the area - while another person came forward to say they had witnessed a rabbit at Warren Slade with a crossbow bolt through its neck.

The targeting of pets and wild animals is "very concerning", she said, because "people who start out that way very often go onto much more serious crime".

Her own pet, she explained, had been shot near her property's back wall, meaning "the one who shot Freya was shooting directly into a garden".

"It's very worrying," she added.

"Think about the number of animals left injured, to die a horrible death.

"There's a very callous indifference - these people don't care.

"They're using creatures as target practice because they think it's fun."

Freya the cat (Image: Mike Cannaby)

Ms Livesey-Jones is a member of Chepstow Town Council, and said she was planning to call on the local authority - Monmouthshire County Council - to put up signs about illegal shooting, so that people better understood their rights.

How you can help

Gwent Police continues to investigate the shooting of Freya, and urged anyone with information to get in touch.

"We’ve received a report of criminal damage in Victoria Road, Chepstow, after a cat was reportedly shot with a firearm on Monday, October 17," a spokesperson for the force said.

"Anyone with information is asked to call 101 or send us a direct message on social media, quoting log reference 2200351896."