Cat found shot with arrow recovering; suspect sought

NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA - An animal cruelty investigation is underway in Northeast Philadelphia after a cat was found shot in the leg with an arrow.

"Obviously, this is not just a normal injury. There was some heinous act involved in this," Gillian Kocher, Director of Public Relations and Marketing with the Pennsylvania SPCA, stated.

Thursday night, the PASPCA law enforcement team got a call letting them know a cat, named Kimiko, had been terribly injured.

"Everyone who hears it is horrified. I mean, if you see the X-ray, just from that alone, you can tell this is horrible," Kocher said. "A caretaker of a colony of cats returned to feed the cats that she normally feeds and found one of them with some horrific – an arrow in its hind end."

After emergency surgery to remove the arrow, Kimiko is recovering.

Kocher continued, "We are very lucky and the cat is very lucky that it missed everything that is vital. We worried a little bit, initially, because it’s very close to her hind end where we do all of our bodily functions. You know, really no way to sugarcoat that, but she’s doing really well."

She is wounded and still having her bandages changed. The person that did this has not been identified.

"That’s really what we are looking for now is some help figuring this out," Kocher explained. "We are hoping the public will see this and may have seen something. We suspect that the arrow came from a crossbow, so that’s something that you would see. You know, if somebody’s walking around Northeast Philadelphia with a crossbow, you know something is amiss. So, we’re hoping that if that is seen, somebody would give us a call."

Kimiko was found injured on the 2100 block of North 31st Street and was known to neighbors to walk around the area.

"Obviously, it appears that somebody was targeting maybe this colony, maybe this cat? Who knows?" Kocher said.

The SPCA wants to make sure this doesn’t happen again and is urging the public to help.

"It is all hands on deck and anyone who can help, we hope that they will. You know, I think that saying goes if you see something, say something," Kocher added.

The PASPCA says that because of the use of a weapon in the incident, if the person responsible is found, there will be felony charges. Anyone with any information is urged to contact the PASPCA at their website here. You can also call to report animal cruelty by dialing 866-601-SPCA.