Orangevale Woman Fears For Community's Safety After Cat Shot In The Leg
ORANGEVALE (CBS13) – An Orangevale woman says that a community cat was shot and now she's fearful for her neighborhood.
"[On] Thursday, he was limping worse than normal because he had a previous injury. I caught him on Friday and we had found out that he had been shot," said Taryn Franks
The cat's name is Limpy after an injury to his front leg that makes him limp.
"It healed together like a peg leg is what the vet said," said Kaity Taylor, co-director of Kits and Kats Rescue – Roseville.
Limpy is one of the community cats that Franks has taken care of over the years. Since last week, Limpy has been in a kennel at Franks' Orangevale home, awaiting surgery. His x-rays show either a small bullet or a pellet in Limpy's back leg.
"We're waiting on an estimate from the specialist and we think it could be two to $2,000-$3,000 just to fix his leg," Taylor said.
It was something that floored Franks and other community cat advocates when they saw why Limpy was limping worse and not from his old injury.
"Holy crap, then you find out it's an injury, you know? So, that's kind of mind-blowing you're like who would want to do that," Tallie Miller, a community cat specialist, said.
"If you don't like the cats, there are other ways around it," Franks said. "There's no reason to shoot them."
This frazzled friend of feral cats tells me there's been a lot more activity happening in their neighborhoods, including the sound of gunshots.
"We actually had a neighbor a couple of streets down that got their windows shot out," Franks said.
Franks said it pretty much feels like a matter of when not if something worse happens.
"(I'm) Worried for our community. I've got a kid that plays outside. A lot of our neighborhoods have kids and a lot of animals back there. A lot of cats, a lot of dogs," Franks said.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office told CBS13 it hasn't had any calls for gunshots being fired in the area of Franks' Orangevale street. But, the Sheriff's Office said that doesn't mean that people aren't hearing them; they may not be reporting the potential shots.
Franks and Taylor hope to get Limpy into surgery this week. They are currently taking donations for the surgery on the Kits and Kats' website.
This troubling situation leaves this worried community cat caretaker with a message to whoever fired on Limpy.
"What if you miss and hit someone's kid. What if you miss someone's, you know, an adult in front of their kid or just anything like that. There's no reason," Franks said.
Franks says she's been able to get all but one of the feral cats she's cared for trapped and spayed or neutered.
