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Sylvan Lake woman distressed after cat shot at with pellet gun, loses its eye

Warning: Photo may be disturbing to some. Evelina Cornell’s cat Ms Grey was shot in the face and hip
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A photo of Ms Grey before her eye was surgically removed due to the damage it sustained from being shot at with a pellet gun. Photo Submitted

A Sylvan Lake woman is looking for answers after her cat was shot twice by a pellet gun, resulting in the animal loosing its eye.

Evalina Cornell says she has been fostering the cat, Ms Grey, since September for Serenity Pet Shelter, has have never had any issues or concerns with her before now.

“She was a stray before she came to us, so we have been having a hard time training her to stay inside. But, we have never had any complaints or concerns about her from our neighbours,” Cornell said in a recent phone interview.

Cornell says the two-year-old cat got out of the house late in the afternoon when she was leaving on June 29. The cat is micro-chipped and wears a collar with tags.

During the time Ms. Grey was out, she believes she wandered further from home than normal, which was when she was shot.

Ms. Grey was shot twice, once in the eye and once in the hip.

She came home around 6 p.m. that evening, and ran back into the house as Cornell was letting her dogs in from the yard.

“We noticed something silvery on her hip. When we looked closer we noticed her eye,” Cornell said.

Ms. Grey was taken to the animal hospital in Red Deer where she was seen to immediately and taken into emergency surgery.

“They were hoping to save her eye, but they couldn’t,” said Cornell. “Her eye was basically blown up… there were parts of her eye missing.”

The veterinarian looking after Ms Grey said she was fortunate to survive the incident.

“The vet told us that whoever shot her did it on purpose with the intention of killing her.”

Cornell has reported the incident to the police and they are investigating. She says she is determined to find out who shot the cat.

She hopes whoever shot at Ms Grey will come forward, whether it was an accident or not.

“She did nothing wrong… It’s just not right that people can do something like this. What was done was beyond cruel,” Cornell said.

“I understand that whoever did this may have been upset that she was in their yard or something, but they could have gone about it a different way.”

A GoFundMe campaign has been set up o help subsidize the vet bill for the surgery and the medication and physiotherapy Ms Grey will need moving forward.

“I understand some people get upset with them being in their flowers. If they had talked to us we would have paid for the flowers. In the end flowers are not worth a cat’s life,” Cornell said.