Eugene family’s cat is recovering from pellet gun wound

OREGON -- His name is Phantom, but what struck him this past weekend is very real.

It sits in a glass vial, with some black fur on it, on the dining room table at the south Eugene home of Josh de Roos and Kim Ledwell.

The metal pellet “hit with some force, too, because you can see it’s misshapen,” de Roos said.

Phantom, a 3½-year-old, 19-pound, black-and-white cat, was shot by an unknown person with a pellet gun near their home in the 4100 block of Alder Street, most likely on Saturday, the couple say.

 

 He was fine on Friday night, then outside most of the day on Saturday. After returning home
Saturday from doing wedding errands (the couple is to be married next month), de Roos and Ledwell let Phantom inside about 6 p.m.

When de Roos fed him about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, he noticed that Phantom’s tail wouldn’t go up.

“His tail was just hanging limp,” de Roos said. “That’s how we knew something wasn’t right.”

They took him to VCA Westmoreland Animal Hospital in west Eugene, where X-rays revealed the pellet that was lodged between bone and muscle at the base of his tail.

The veterinarian who treated Phantom said the wound was no older than 48 hours, the couple said.

They were outraged. De Roos’s face turned red with anger. Did a neighbor shoot their cat?

“We want justice,” de Roos said. “It would be nice that whoever did this would be found, so no other animal has to deal with this.”

After a veterinary bill of about $900, Phantom is now home recovering and on pain medication and antibiotics. He has a plastic cone around his neck to keep him from chewing or licking his wound.

Ledwell brought Phantom with her when she moved from San Jose, Calif., in July. He previously had been an indoor cat, because Ledwell lived in an apartment near heavy traffic.

Since moving to Eugene, Phantom has enjoyed roaming the woodsy area behind de Roos and Ledwell’s home, which abuts several other backyards.

The couple reported the incident to Eugene police, then wrote a letter to their neighbors and hand-delivered it on Sunday to 48 homes.

  

“You should know that it is the intent of our family to pursue legal claim against the perpetrator of this crime and prosecute them to the full extent of the law,” the letter ends.

Several neighbors responded by phone or text message, offering their support and sharing their own dismay, Ledwell said.

Two neighbors, including de Roos’ sister, said their cats have disappeared in recent months.

“I thought, ‘My worst fears are confirmed — somebody’s shooting our cats,” said Jenny Oberst, who lives near East 43rd Avenue and Alder Street, about receiving the letter. Both of Oberst’s cats have disappeared, one in September and one in December.

Sasha Elliott, spokeswoman at Greenhill Humane Society, which operates the First Avenue Shelter that cares for stray and impounded animals, said cases of pets being shot are “few and far between.”
But just last month, an 11-year-old cat was shot with an arrow and found by Lane County Animal Services near River Road and taken to the First Avenue Shelter to recover. Its owner found it there and the cat is home recovering.

Under Oregon law, a person commits first-degree animal abuse by intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causing physical injury or death to an animal. That’s a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $6,250 fine.

On Feb. 25, a Phoenix, Ore., man was sentenced by a Jackson County judge to three years’ probation for shooting a cat with an arrow on Dec. 12, according to The Mail Tribune newspaper in Medford.

Cody Daigneault, 25, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony animal abuse and was told he will get 18 months in prison if he violates the terms of the probation. Daigneault told the judge he shot the cat because it was a nuisance on his property.

First-degree animal abuse is considered a felony if the guilty party has previously been convicted of certain offenses. Daigneault had several previous convictions, including assault, according to The Mail Tribune.

Eugene police spokeswoman Melinda McLaughlin said Tuesday that Animal Services, a division of the police department, dealt with 642 animal cruelty and 347 animal abuse cases between March 1, 2012, and Feb. 28, 2015. Animal welfare officers were not available Tuesday to say how many of those cases involved animals that had been shot, she said.

“If there’s someone shooting and hurting animals, they need to be caught,” Ledwell said. “And if it’s a troubled teenager, they need to get counseling so it doesn’t escalate into something worse.”

Ledwell said she can’t believe such a thing could happen in her idyllic Eugene neighborhood.

“I brought him here from the mean streets of the Bay Area — gang central! — where he doesn’t get shot,” Ledwell said. “And he gets shot here, in Eugene, Oregon.”

(The Register-Guard - March 4, 2015)