Heartbroken pet owner blasts 'disgusting' thugs who shot her cat dead

Francesca Dawn Eyers, from Killorglin, Co Kerry, has also voiced her fears that, having killed a defenceless animal, the killers could target humans next.

She told the Sunday World: "If someone is unstable enough to harm an animal there is nothing to say they won't escalate to shooting at humans next.

"It may well have been teenagers doing stupid stuff that they thought was funny but they need to be caught and stopped before they do something even worse."

A visibly upset Francesca, who is a qualified veterinary nurse, recalled the night she came home from visiting her parents to discover her beloved five year old cat, Bratt, had been fatally shot, and told of her desperate battle to save him.

"It was the Sunday night of the May bank holiday and I had popped out to visit my parents who live just around the corner and got back home shortly before eleven.

"I discovered poor Bratt on the bathroom floor where he was breathing really hard and barely able to stand.

"When I lifted him I could feel a lump under his neck which was unusual as I knew there was never one there before.

"Because of the night it was it took a few calls to various vets before Aoife from the Milltown centre told me to bring him straight in.

"When we had him X rayed, what looked very like an airgun pellet, was clearly visible.

"There wasn't a whole lot the vet could do so after she had medicated him we took Bratt home to die and he passed away in the early hours.

"I have had a necropsy - the animal version of a post mortem done - and the pellet travelled almost through his entire body and the damage done was catastrophic."

Heartbroken Francesca is convinced that somebody knows what happened.

"Gardai are investigating it and somebody somewhere knows who did this.

"They would know who had access to a pellet gun and they need to the right thing and come forward before something even worse happens."

A garda spokesperson said: "Gardai received reports of an alleged incident in Killorglinon May 1st, enquiries have been conducted and investigations are ongoing."