I live in Walthamstow in a terraced street which backs onto a similar one – each house having a small rear garden of 30 square metres approximately in area.

On Saturday last my lovely, healthy, 11 month old cat sustained a terrible wound from an air rifle which a neighbour was firing in an adjacent garden. This would appear to have been accidental, possibly even a ricochet, rather than malicious. Nevertheless, the pellet penetrated several inches into his body, passing through his colon and one kidney as it went.

After two days of veterinary care and major surgery for my cat and of mental anguish and upheaval for my family and myself, he died of his injuries and complications at the Royal Veterinary College Hospital in Hertfordshire.

To my enormous regret I have to admit that I had heard the weapon being used once or twice previously but had done nothing about it, mainly because I had no idea of the severity of the damage an air gun could cause.

I have subsequently learned from the police (who arrested the man, held him overnight in custody, cautioned him and confiscated the weapon) that air guns are classed as firearms and that, while they can be legally held, and, in theory, fired within the bounds of the owner’s property, should anyone ever witness one being fired in a densely-populated area such as this is, police advice is to always call 999 and report it.

This may seem blindingly obvious – as it does now to me, in retrospect, but in case there are others who, as I did, underestimate the dangers posed by air weapons, then I would hope you might feel it appropriate to run a piece to help raise awareness of this issue.

The vets we spoke to said that it was far from uncommon to find air gun pellets lodged in the bodies of domestic pets, so ours is not an isolated case. Also, even more importantly, human beings and, especially small children could be at risk.

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