It was a walk in the woods that cost this little tabby cat a paw and a hindquarters. Missing since September 20, Sushi returned home two weeks later, in bad shape. His mistress, Florine Charrière, experienced a few seconds of false joy before realizing that her cat was limping and meowing in pain. At the vet, the diagnosis is clear: Sushi has lead all over his body. He doesn’t probably won’t live long. Florine has no proof, but she suspects the hunters of having injured her cat.
A complaint against
His house under construction borders the Barade forest near the place called “Le Grand Retour”. This educator specializing in animal mediation lives there with her partner, a few meters from her educational farm “the eye of the lynx”. But during the hunting season, Florine says she has a lump in her stomach every Sunday. “Since I arrived here, this has been my number one fear for my animals.” She maintains that they are getting too close to her private road, “I don’t feel safe.”
Visually, Sushi doesn’t look damaged, but the lead has slipped under his hair, says Florine Charrière, with X-rays to back it up. “The blow he received fractured his hip and legs and pinched the nerves connected to his bladder and sphincter, so he can no longer relieve himself on his own.”she laments. “We have to drain him several times a day. The vet told us to make the most of it as much as possible, because this situation won’t last long. We’re going to have to make a decision when he doesn’t want to die.” This resident of Fossemagne filed a complaint against
“My guys don’t shoot cats”
Contacted by France Bleu Périgord, the veterinarian confirmed that the cat was indeed injured by lead, but nothing proves that it was a rifle shot, nor a hunter shot. The cat having disappeared for two weeks, it is also difficult to say that it was really injured in the Barade forest. Florine Charrière, armed only with her conviction and her radios, nevertheless contacted the Dordogne Hunting Federation, to try to request compensation for her veterinary costs. His president refused him, but for the sake of appeasement, he wrote a letter to the hunting societies of Fossemagne, to inform them of this complaint.
“I vouch for my association”
An approach well received by the president of the Ramades hunting company, Bernard Lacoste. “It’s good that the federation informs us.“He hunts well between Thenon and Fossemagne, but keeps his mind calm.”I vouch for my entire association, my guys don’t shoot cats. We don’t know what happened to this cat. In any case, he asserts, no hunter shoots pellets.“
“We mainly hunt wild boars and deer with bullets, we don’t know what could have happened to him if he was gone for two weeks! You can very well have cats hanging out on farms and people who are not hunters shooting on it with guns, I’ve seen it happen before.” The president of the Ramades hunting company says he is ready to meet Florine Charrière, to discuss.
The latter launched an online fundraiser from which she has raised 1,020 euros to date.
Salome Pineda
