Nine-year-old girl discovers her pet kitten killed by a snare

A DISTRAUGHT pet owner has pleaded for people to stop setting illegal snares after her kitten was killed.

Lana Phillips, 43, lost her ten-month old kitten named Ozzy after it was caught in a snare near farmland in Trelewis.

Her partner, and nine-year-old daughter Bethan, found Ozzy hanging off a fence after he had gone missing for two days in March.

Bethan is still too upset to talk about the grim discovery.

Now Lana is worried the same thing could happen to her other cat Timmy – and cats all across the borough – unless something is done about it.

“He was such a nice cat, lovely really. We didn’t have him long but he already had a great personality,” said Lana.

“He was really friendly with everyone and a little mischievous, too – he wasn’t a scaredy cat.

“We thought perhaps he’d got himself somewhere and got locked in, because it was nice warm weather, but we didn’t think for a second that anything had happened to him.”

An RSPCA investigation failed to uncover the person who set the snare, which are commonly used by gamekeepers for foxes, but can also be set for rabbits on farm land.

Although the RSPCA could not confirm the snare was illegal, Lana said the farmer had no idea about the snare’s existence and feared others could still be around.

“People have said maybe you should keep your cats in, but forcing a cat who wants to explore to stay indoors is just cruel, in my opinion,” said Lana.

“There are a lot of pets around here, and I would just tell all cat owners to be aware of what’s going on.

“As for those who set illegal snares, you probably couldn’t print what I think of them. They are just not thinking about what they’re doing.”