NEWS

Reward offered in cat shooting case

Ken Palmer and Christopher Behnan
Kitty the cat post-surgery.

EATON COUNTY — The Capital Area Humane Society is offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who shot a cat with a crossbow in rural Eaton County.

"We'll start off with a $1,000 reward," said Julia Willson, president and CEO of CAHS. "We hope it wasn't intentional, but we've seen too many of these kind of cases to believe it wasn't."

The male tabby cat named Kitty was found with a crossbow bolt lodged in his chest in rural Kalamo Township on Monday. He was in serious condition this morning but has stabilized after surgery, CAHS officials said. The arrow has been removed, and Kitty is being treated for pain.

The cat is expected to survive but has sustained significant nerve damage, Penny Pearsall, the agency's spokeswoman, said in a phone interview. Rescuers initially feared the cat might lose a front limb, but the damage was not as severe as they first thought.

"We're very hopeful," Pearsall said. "Right now, he's in the very critical stages."

The cream-and-white tabby was brought to the Humane Society on Monday after it was found hiding beneath a deck along Carlisle Highway, between Vermontville and Bellevue, authorities said.

The Eaton County Sheriff's Office said the feline was shot with a crossbow bolt fitted with a target tip. The cat's owner is an elderly woman who cannot afford veterinary care, they said. She had last seen her cat on Saturday.

Willson said the agency has received about $200 in donations to help with Kitty's veterinary care. The bill has already reached $2,000 to $3,000 and could go higher, she said.

Lori Salva, a principal at a Catholic school in Grand Rapids, told the Lansing State Journal and WZZM in Grand Rapids that she'd like to help with the vet bill. Willson said she would discuss it with Salva.

"I'm a cat lover, and I know that vet bills can be very expensive," Salva said in a phone interview. "That’s probably (the owner's) companion, and I know where she's coming from with that. I have three cats. I know how special they are, and I want to help her."

An X-ray of Kitty the cat after being shot with a crossbow arrow

Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 543-3512 or a tip line at 543-5433. Tips can be left anonymously, officials said.

Contact Christopher Behnan at (517) 377-1261 orcbehnan@lsj.com . Follow him on Twitter@LansingCB.

How to help

Kitty's medical expenses are being handled by the Capital Area Humane Society's special care and cruelty fund. Donations to the fund can be made at http://cahs-lansing.org/index.php/special-care-fund.