ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – Police are investigating after someone shot a cat with an arrow in Roanoke County Thursday.
WARNING: STORY CONTAINS IMAGE SOME MAY FIND GRAPHIC
Roanoke County Police received a call about the incident in the 2500 block of Rutrough Road shortly after noon.
An officer took the cat to Angels of Assisi for treatment where it is now recovering from surgery.
"He's a little sleepy, which is fine, we want him to stay that way as the healing process begins," Angels of Assisi Executive Director Lisa O'Neill said. "The injury was forunately rather superficial, so there were a lot of rumors and things happening, saying that the arrow had gone through the heart or gone through the lungs, but those weren't true."
In a Facebook post, Angels says that the cat is not out of the woods yet, but hopes that, "with positive thoughts and around the clock care, he will pull through." O'Neill said the injury was limited to his skin and did not hit any organs.
The cat, believed to be a stray, is not microchipped and has no known owner at this time.
Ashley Roberts found the cat as she was getting ready to leave the Roanoke County trailer park in which she lives.
"I was headed out and something ran in front of my car and I was in disbelief to what I was seeing so I stopped my car to get out and see if it was what I thought I had seen," Roberts said.
She said she's seen the cat around before and she believes someone shot him on purpose.
"That's why I posted the post on (Facebook) just to warn others if they have loose animals running the neighborhood to watch out, because their pets could be next," Roberts said.
There are no suspects at this time. Police are investigating the incident and ask anyone with information to call 540-562-3265. If you believe this cat is yours you're asked to contact the same number.
O'Neill said the clinic is taking good notes to turn over to the authorities if this does rise to the level of criminal charges.
"We're fortunate that Virginia has some very good animal welfare laws, so if this was something that was done on purpose, the laws are there to back up animal control and they can do what they need to do if someone did do this on purpose," O'Neill said.
Click here if you'd like to donate to help cover the costs of his medical care.