Man shoots neighbour's cat with air gun

In what can be only be termed as a case of cruelty against animals a resident of Vile Parle allegedly shot a cat by an air gun The cat which belonged to the family of a senior citizen was lucky enough to survive the incident but will have to live with the bullet in its throat the rest of its life Doctors say that if they perform surgery the cat might not survive the operation Above The cat was discharged a week after staying in hospital as below Ronnie and Hilda Sutari felt she was not eating properly in their absence PicsNeha LM Tripathi Ronnie and Hilda Sutari the senior citizen couple who have been looking after the cat for the last six years also alleged that when they tried to register a complaint with the Santacruz police station the officials refused ldquoOn October 4 around 230 am my brother Jerome saw Mannen Pereira aiming and shooting at our cat with an air gun We immediately rushed her to the Parel based Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals BSPCArdquo alleged Sutari The Sutaris who barely make Rs 5000 per month managed to put together Rs 10000 for the catrsquos treatment The incident According to the Sutaris their neighbourrsquos son Mannen Pereira shot the cat without any provocation The family also allege that when they approached their neighbours asking why he did that they were rude After admitting the cat to the BSPCA hospital Sutari went to the Santacruz police station to register an FIR but he was allegedly turned down by the policeman there After waiting for a long time he was asked to report the incident in the form of a letter ldquoI have given in writing what exactly happened and why we want the police to take action Itrsquos been more than a week now but still no action has been taken That means the complaints made by senior citizens have not been taken seriouslyrdquo said Sutari SUNDAY MiD DAY has a copy of the letter The catrsquos condition The bullet hit the cat in the neck causing problems in the windpipe and food pipe ldquoIf we would have tried to operate the cat in order to remove the bullet her trachea would have burst resulting in her death Hence we treated her in the best possible mannerrdquo said Dr Mayur Dangal Manager of BSPCA The cat was admitted on October 4 around 10 am and was discharged on October 11 after the owner realised that keeping her in the hospital isnrsquot really helping her The couple who spent part of their savings on the catrsquos treatment say that they couldnrsquot bear to see her in pain ldquoShe used to have food only in our presence We got her discharged as no operation was going to be conducted The hospital expenses were also increasing by the dayrdquo said Hilda Sutari Police action According to IPC 428 whoever commits mischief by killing poisoning maiming or rendering useless any animals or animal of the value of R10 or upwards shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years or with fine or with both ldquoThe police should have registered an FIR against the culprits Mumbai police has large powers to take strict action against people who mistreat animals It is very surprising that the police have behaved in such a mannerrdquo said Ambika Hiranandani lawyer and managing trustee of People For Animals an NGO When SUNDAY MiD DAY contacted Senior Police Inspector Atul Chavan of Santacruz Police Station he said ldquoI am not aware about the matter I will look into the same and necessary action will be taken soonrdquo u00a0