A cat trussed up and left to die has been saved from the jaws of death by three Fife Council workers.
The terrified ginger and white tom, now named Pete, was cruelly forced inside a heavy duty plastic compost bag sealed shut with cable ties and dumped in a wheelie bin in a remote layby on Perth Road between Cowdenbeath and Kelty.
Scottish SPCA senior inspector John Chisholm said: ”This was a deliberate act of cruelty against a defenceless creature and I have no doubt in my mind that whoever did this meant for Pete to die.”
Although it’s unclear how long the cat had been trapped inside the bag, it had been scratching in a desperate bid for freedom and may have injured its eye in the process.
Now recovering at the Scottish SPCA’s Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre in Edinburgh, Pete was soaking wet, suffering from a high temperature and had a badly bloodshot eye.
”He’s very lucky to have been found otherwise he could very easily have suffocated to death,” Mr Chisholm added. ”We don’t know whether Pete has been abandoned by his owner or stolen and dumped so we’re appealing to the public to help us with our inquiries into this horrific incident.”
The fact Pete is still alive is thanks to street cleansing team Stephen Campbell, Dougie Millar and George McEwan. By luck, they were litter picking on that route on Wednesday morning when they heard faint miaowing.
”We thought it was a toy a lot of battery-operated toys we find still have life left in them,” Mr Campbell said. ”When we moved all the litter off the top we found the bag.”
Bursting the bag open, they found the scared moggy.
”We knew it was still alive, but we didn’t know if it was badly injured.”
They quickly called the Scottish SPCA, but on their way passed a Cowdenbeath vets and so sought immediate treatment for the bewildered cat there.
Mr Campbell added: ”My wife was about crying when I told her we have two cats a dog of our own and I do not understand how anyone could do this to a poor cat.”
Anyone with information should contact the Scottish SPCA Animal Helpline on 03000 999999.