OVIEDO, Fla. – Two neighborhood cats are recovering after they were found shot by a pellet gun.
Phyllis Ayoob, the founder and owner of Spay N Save Animal Clinic in Longwood, said the cats were brought to her by two students at Oviedo High School.
She said the students noticed the two neighborhood cats were limping and they wanted to trap them to make sure they were all right.
Ayoob said she ran X-rays and found one cat had been shot three times and another had been shot four times. One cat will probably lose one of its legs, she said. [Photo above courtesy of Spay N Save Animal Clinic]
"I don't have much use for people who do something like that to an animal," said Michael Potter, a neighbor who lives near where the cats were found.
Potter said he helps trap the many neighborhood cats to spay or neuter them and releases them. He said the cats are part of the community.
"I would do the same thing to (the gunman) and see how they like it," he said. "At least that's my feeling."
"They're pretty cool cats. They're chasing each other around," said neighbor Michael Roggio. "They're kind of a neighborhood icon."
Many residents said they were upset that the two cats had been shot, and they all wondered who could be behind it.
Ayoob said one of the cats successfully had her three pellets removed Thursday. She said the other cat who suffered four shots will take some more time because he will need more surgery to remove his leg.