Two cats were shot in Salt Lake County and Utah County late last month, leaving pet owners concerned about the safety of their furry friends.
Foxy, a 2-year-old cat, had to get her leg amputated after her owner found her shot in her Murray backyard, which backs up to the Jordan River Parkway. Last month, another cat in Utah County was also shot and had to be euthanized.
Two cats were shot in Salt Lake County and Utah County late last month, leaving pet owners concerned about the safety of their furry friends.
Stephanie Cornell adopted her cat Foxy a year ago, when her brother-in-law found the grey short-hair with a litter of kittens in a tow yard. Now 2 years old, Foxy and her daughter, Poppy, live in a quiet Murray neighborhood that backs up to the Jordan River Parkway — along with the couple’s three dogs.
“I was always the type of, like, my cats can go outside, but they have to be watched,” Cornell said. “I’m not gonna let them out there unattended. But we knew Foxy wouldn’t be happy, so it’s like, I can come to terms with this. This will be okay. This is gonna be a good space for her — and then this happens.”
(Stephanie Cornell) Foxy and her daughter, Poppy, at the Cornell family’s Murray home.
Before Cornell went to bed May 28, she saw Foxy outside at about 10 p.m. Foxy usually returned to the door in the mornings, when the couple lets their dogs out, but early May 29, they didn’t see her at first.
One of the couple’s dogs then found the cat in the backyard. Cornell noticed Foxy was dragging one of her front legs, as if her shoulder was dislocated, and found an open wound on the cat’s shoulder.
“It was like a whole fiasco, but we caught her, got her to the vet,” Cornell said. “My vet called me and told me that somebody shot her, and they ended up having to do emergency surgery and amputated the leg. And it’s not a pellet, it’s not a BB, it’s an actual bullet. They believe it’s a .22.”
The couple brought Foxy home after the amputation later that day.
“You can tell she’s really sad and upset,” Cornell said on May 30, her voice breaking. “It’s really upsetting to look at my cat — who used to love to hunt and to jump up on the roof — and look at her with one less limb and worry that she’ll never be able to do those things again.”
(Stephanie Cornell) Foxy’s X-ray, showing the bullet that was shot into in her shoulder.
Foxy mostly stays in the couple’s backyard when she’s outdoors, and she’s a shy cat, Cornell added, but she believes Foxy would explore the Jordan River Parkway at night.
She called to report the shooting to Murray police dispatchthe day she found Foxy, and Salt Lake County Animal Services called her back the next day. They took her information, along with the bullet fragment a veterinarian removed from Foxy, but Cornell was “extremely disappointed” with Animal Services’ response.
The person from Animal Services who called “seemed a little more concerned [that] Foxy, my mostly feral cat, potentially left my property,” Cornell said. “She told me I could be ticketed for that. … They know it was a firearm shot in a residential area, and they don’t seem to care about that.”
Murray police directed a request for comment to Salt Lake County Animal Services. A request for more information from Murray police wasn’t immediately returned.
Salt Lake County Animal Services special programs coordinator Ryan DeGrey said they are investigating Foxy’s injury, but Murray City Police Department would be responsible for investigating the discharge of a firearm within city limits.
“To help keep your animal safe, you’d want to keep your animal contained on your own property,” DeGrey said. “At this point, we’re unaware of any other injuries or related instances or reports.”
Cornell doesn’t know who would want to shoot Foxy, who is eight pounds and only typically approaches Cornell or her husband.
“She’s a solid gray cat and she’s little … so for somebody to shoot her at night, they had to be looking for her, you know?” Cornell said. “She would have been hard to see if it was dark. … I just can’t get out of my head, imagining, like, ‘Did one of my neighbors do this to her?’ In no way am I pointing fingers, but it makes me uncomfortable.”
Five days before Foxy was found shot, another cat was shot and killed about an hour south of Murray, Utah County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Dallin Tanner said.
The white cat, named Draco Meowfoy, was found shot on the grass outside of his home in Goshen on May 24, according to KUTV. The cat had to be euthanized later that day, Tanner added.
Draco’s vet suspected he was also shot by a .22 caliber firearm, the cat’s owner told KUTV. Tanner said investigators have no reason to believe the two shootings are related.
“We’re still looking into it,” Tanner said. “…It’s hard, right? Some cats just prefer to be outside rather than inside, but just keep your animals inside and supervise at all possible.”