Around the beginning of September this year, reports of cat shootings in the Lower Rattlesnake began to surface on various social media sites. Two cats were shot with Terminator .22 caliber air pellets, which are a very specific pellet made by the company H&N that can be easily purchased by the general public on Amazon. Both cats required veterinary attention, but only one survived after undergoing emergency surgery. Both cat owners paid over $4,000 for the surgeries.
As a cat owner in the Rattlesnake, Hellgate junior CJ Gimpelson is “devastated” by the case. Anna Fortune and Brynn Irwin, both juniors, say that this person needs to be caught immediately and deserves jail time.
NBC Montana was the first to report on the shootings on Sept. 17, quickly followed by the national animal rights group, PETA, who recently released a $5,000 reward for information that could lead to the arrest of the shooter(s). In a recent PSA video, they warn cat owners to keep their pets inside in response to the horrific situation.
According to NBC Montana’s first report, the police are looking into a string of cat related shootings in the Lower Rattlesnake. This may be related to a Reddit user’s comment which claims that their cat was shot last spring in the Lower Rattlesnake. They say they notified the police and talked to their neighbors, but never learned who did it.
Another comment on the same thread claims that this happened to them in a different town four years ago, with the exact same pellets used. Allegedly, the culprit (a teenager) was caught by the owner right when the shooting happened. The cops told the owner they could sue the kid’s parents for vet bills, but the commenter follows this statement by saying “It turns out it’s remarkably difficult to press charges for animal abuse,” suggesting that charges were dropped, if they were pressed at all.
According to a Missoulian article, Kitty conundrum – Couple upset over recent shootings involving their cats, a cat was shot with a pellet gun in Sept. 2008 in the Rattlesnake area and died. Four months later, the same couple found their 7 month old kitten with a pellet in his leg. According to the article, Traci Scharfe, the owner of both cats, claims that there had been a notable amount of missing-cat posters located around the Mount Jumbo trailhead and wondered if that had anything to do with her own cats. Scharfe reported these incidents to Missoula County Animal Control, and an officer told her that he couldn’t do anything without an eyewitness.
While these awful incidents likely have nothing to do with the recent shootings, it’s an abnormal repetition that must end. If you have any information on the shootings, contact the Missoula Police Department at this number: (406)552-6300.
