Cat caught in snare in Wales
A cat owner whose pet went missing for two days has spoken of her shock at finding the animal trapped in a wire snare normally set to catch badgers or foxes.
Kate Lee, of Talsarn, said her pet cat Gem was only spared a lingering death after her distraught children came across her while carrying out a frantic search two fields away from their smallholding.
“Gem had last been seen at around 5pm on the Sunday and didn’t come home that night,” she told the Cambrian News.
“She then didn’t turn up for breakfast the next morning which was very unusual.
“When she still hadn’t turned up the following day we went walking down the road to check whether she’d been run over and also looked in vehicles and outbuildings in case she’d been locked in.
“We have 23 acres here and it was while going round our fields that the kids found her in the snare and we eventually got her out by using a pair of wire cutters.
“Poor Gem was very dehydrated and while she let us carry her home she wouldn’t let us touch her after that because she was so sore.
“She also couldn’t walk properly with her hind legs and didn’t have anything to eat for 24 hours. Even now, a few days later, she’s very tender around the middle.
“While I understand why people set these traps I think they should be set more responsibly and checked every 24 hours.
“When we went back to the snare four days later it was still the same as when we had released Gem which means it hadn’t been checked in all that time.
“I dread to think what would have happened if the kids hadn’t found her – she would still be out there.”