The "Catch Charlie's Killer" Campaign

Charlie was a gentle and loving you cat who loved his owners and loved to explore his neighbourhood with his friends.

Charlie was last seen alive on the morning of June 14th 2009 and after the first night had passed without any sign of him, his owners (who wish to remain anonymous) did everything possible to find him.  They put up posters, pushed leaflets through doors and contacted all the animal welfare organisations in Oxfordshire including Cherwell Cats Protection who, in turn, alerted us here at Animal Finders - where we logged the report.

Eventually Charlie was found, but sadly he was dead. It was nearly 6 weeks after he went missing. A contractor who was conducting a house clearance in the neighbourhood found him lying in the property’s overgrown garden.  He still had his collar on, so he called the owner to inform them of the sad news, then buried Charlie there in the garden.

At that stage, there was a suspicion that Charlie had been shot, but there was no evidence. Proof was needed so with the owner’s permission we exhumed Charlie’s body and took him to West Bar Vets who kindly agreed to x-ray him free of charge in an effort to determine a cause of death.  A normal post-mortem was not possible due to the length of time that Charlie had been dead.

The x-ray shows an object lodged in Charlie’s thorax that looks suspiciously like an air gun pellet and is being considered as the probable cause of death.

Naturally, Charlie's owners are devestated and can't understand why anyone would do such a thing.

 “Charlie was such a gentle cat. In the 16 months that he lived not once did he scratch or bite. He was a very sociable cat who liked to spend time with other cats in the neighbourhood.”Charlie's owner

All nine lives were used up already

Charlie had suffered once before at the hands of the local shooter. In February this year he was shot with a .22 calibre air gun pellet which penetrated 4cm into his body just missing his vital organs.  Unsure of what caused his injury, the team at West Bar Vets x-rayed Charlie and discovered a pellet lodged just millimetres from one of his lungs. Miraculously, he made a full recovery.

Amazingly, after West Bar Vets operated to remove the pellet and repair the damage, Charlie went on to make a full recovery. He was soon back to his normal self and was out and about exploring and socialising with his feline friends.

That's when it happened again, but Charlie had already used up all of his nine lives.

His owners now plan to sell their home and move to a new area where any pets they have in the future will be safe.

"We miss Charlie so much and I'm longing to cuddle a kitten again. But we won't even think about getting another pet until we've moved house. We've lived in this house for 11 years, but I hate it here now. It's not safe and I couldn't bear to lose another cat this way. We've decided to put the house on the market. ", said Charlie's owner.

There have been a series of air gun attacks in a particular area of Cherwell Heights near the St Louis Meadow Park over the past 9 months. Another cat in the area received extensive injuries from an air weapon and had to have part of his spleen removed.

“Cat owners in the area are growing increasingly worried. We need to find out as soon as possible who’s responsible for these sick shootings, and prevent other innocent cats from being targeted”Will Rippon, Local RSPCA Inspector

Please help us increase the reward with a donation

Here at Animal Finders we are so outraged by this tragedy that we've created this campaign, with a view to getting someone to 'rat on the cat killer'. We're pushing this campaign in the local press, local radio, social media plus a leaflet campaign in the area. The press campaign will break on Monday of next week.

We're putting up £350 as a reward to encourage people to come forward with information. We've had people asking me if they can donate to the reward pot to make it bigger and therefore a greater incentive for someone to come forward. So, we've made it possible for people to donate via PayPal*. Please use the button below:

Do the right thing AND earn yourself a reward!

There is someone in the Cherwell Heights area of Banbury who regularly shoots cats with an air rifle. This is not sport. This is not a game. This is cruel, illegal and is entirely unacceptable. Please come forward with any information so we can find the person responsible and prevent this from happening in this area again.

Let's face it - money talks. Now more than ever as we all struggle through the economic downturn. If you know who did this - do yourself a favour and tell us what you know. If your information leads to the conviction of whoever did this - the reward is yours. Call 0800 999 2343 to tell us what you know.

A symptom of a wider problem

The RSCPA receive hundreds of reports each year from all over the UK of pets that have been shot with air guns. The vast majority of which are received during the school holidays and the lighter summer evenings.

"The RSPCA in the East Region received 78 reports of air weapon attacks on animals in the first six months of 2009. This would indicate that such attacks are increasing, as we received 140 in the whole of 2008" Source: RSPCA July 2009

• Read more about pets being shot with air guns on the RSCPA website

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Have your say

I'm sorry that I can not offer any help with finding who did this to Charlie, I just felt that I had to inform people that my cat was also shot and killed a few years ago in Steeple Aston, the pellet went straight into her liver. To make things worse no one was caught or punished for this sickening crime!! H.Marshall, Oxfordshire

If you'd like to comment on this campaign and have your comments shown on this page, please email us using our online contact form.

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* Animal Finders is not a registered charity so each donation we receive is subject to a Paypal transaction fee of 3.4% plus £0.20. For example, we would receive £19.12 from a donation of £20.

DONORS

31/07/2009
Mrs Howard, Banbury: £50
03/08/2009
A. Marshall, Fenny Stratford: £20

ANY INFORMATION

Call free on:

0800 999 2343

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Why are you doing this?
  We've created this campaign to catch the person that shot and killed Charlie and to highlight the issue that air weapons are used to kill and injure hundreds of pets every year. We want to catch and make a very public example of the person that did this. We want the community to come together and take a stand and say "WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THIS!"
• What is the reward for?
  The reward is being offered for information that leads to the sucessful prosecution of the person responsible for shooting cats in Charlie's neighbourhood.
• Why are you asking people to donate?
  We would like people to donate to make the total reward we can offer much bigger. The greater the reward - the greater the incentive will be for someone to come forward with information.
• What happens to the reward money if you don't find Charlie's killer?
  We're under no illusions - it could be tricky to bring someone to justice for this crime. If we don't get a successful prosecution then we'll give anyone who donated to the reward pot the option of either having it back or simply allowing us to donate it to an Animal Welfare charity in the county.

report animal cruelty

Anyone with information about any attack on an animal should contact the RSPCA in confidence on:

0300 1234 999

Special thanks

We would like to thank Richard Byrne, Maggie, John Mather and Maggie, all from West Bar Vets, Banbury for their speedy and very professional assistance in this matter.