A horrified Dundee woman called police after finding a cat in a man-made trap on a neighbour’s drive.
Officers rushed to the scene after Cheryl Laing made the discovery during a search for her own missing cat, Cairo.
The 33-year-old said she found a feline desperately in need of help but was too afraid to rescue the animal herself and instead alerted the authorities.
Mrs Laing said: “It was horrific, the cat looked absolutely terrified.
“I could hear it moving around inside the trap.”
She came across the animal after she went looking for her own cat with her daughter.
Mrs Laing said: “I had been shouting for Cairo but she didn’t appear.
“I asked my daughter to come and help me look for her.
“I was just putting on my trainers when my daughter said she had seen another cat trapped.
“There was a box just to the side of the driveway with the cat trapped in it.
“It wasn’t really meowing but you could tell it was frightened.”
Mrs Laing said her first instinct was to help the animal but that she thought it would be best for the authorities to deal with it.
She then contacted the police and SSPCA, who came to assist her and her daughter.
“It was terrible,” the 33-year-old said. “To think, it could have been Cairo. We’ve been living her for nearly 15 years and I’ve never heard of anything like this happening.”
Police attended the scene on Tuesday night and freed the cat.
A 69-year-old Ardler resident has now been charged in connection with animal cruelty.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland, Tayside Division, told The Courier: “We can confirm that a 69-year-old man has been charged in connection with an incident at Scotscraig Street, Dundee, at about 10pm on Tuesday June 30.
“A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal”