Milo blinded by air rifle louts

BLINDED . . .three-year-old Milo was shot in the eye with an air rifle

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SICK yobs blinded a beloved family cat in one eye when they shot it in the head with an air rifle.

Three-year-old Milo went missing from its home in Deepdale, Clarksfield, on Thursday sparking a frantic search.

Owner Barbara Cheetham, called on neighbours and made posters to put up in the hope that someone had seen Milo.

On Sunday Barbara decided to re-check her garden shed and found Milo lying on a cushion with his left eye hanging out of its socket.

She said: “I’ve had Milo since he was a kitten and he’s a really friendly, loving cat. I was so worried when he didn’t come home but finding him in that state really shook me up. My first thought was that he’d had a car accident or been hit by some flying debris as it was really windy over the weekend.

“I took him to the vets and they said they would do some tests and X-rays so they kept him in overnight. When they phoned me back they said he had a pellet lodged in his neck that had gone in through his eye and that the sight in his left eye couldn’t be saved.

“I can’t believe someone could deliberately do this to an animal, they must be sick in the head.

“He has permanently lost his sight in that eye and it’s so pointless and cruel.

“He loves going outside and now I’m too scared to let him out in case it happens again.”