A couple of days ago while cuddling her pet cat, Parvathy Ramesh, a boutique owner living at Cheruparambath Road in Kadavanthra, came up against an object stuck beneath its neck.

The skin there was found peeled and when pressed, blood trickled down. Alarmed, she rushed the three-year-old to a pet hospital where initially, a surgery was prescribed before being called off as the object eased off the body without any intervention.

“We were told that it was a pellet fired from an air pistol and hospital authorities asked to lodge a police petition, which we did on Monday. Paachu (the pet) never wanders off far. For someone to do it to a harmless animal in a residential area is criminal,” said Ms. Ramesh who also made an impassioned Facebook post about the incident.

The petition, which among other things alleged cruelty to animal, was filed with the South police.

“We were moved by the lady’s love for her pet and combed the neighbourhood but could not find anyone using air guns. Besides, we are not yet sure whether it’s a pellet or something used in a toy gun,” said South police sources. Police are yet to collect the object found on the pet’s body.

However, the pet hospital authorities reaffirm that it was indeed a pellet. “It was a metallic object and thankfully it was embedded on the skin and had not gone deep,” said Gowri Menon, the veterinary doctor who treated the pet.

Ambili Purackal, coordinator of Daya Animal Welfare Organisation, said that veterolegal cases were on the rise and the accused often go unpunished. The organisation has recently rescued two stray dogs fired with air pistols and pellets dumped inside their body from a common neighbourhood in Paingottoor, near Kothamangalam. Though they have recovered after treatment, the pellets remain inside their bodies, as their removal could prove fatal.

“Those who informed us said that there was someone who indiscriminately fired at animals with an air pistol but declined to identify him for fear of repercussions. That is what always help the guilty go scot free in veterolegal cases, as police decline to even register cases citing lack of evidence despite we providing audio clips of conversations with informants. It is high time that animal welfare laws are amended so that information provided by reputed organisations and activists is taken on face value,” Ms. Purackal said.

Sonika Satheesh, a veterinary surgeon, said that pellet wounds could fester and cause complications that could prove fatal. “These incidents are reflective of the psychological disorder of the persons concerned, as they often hurt animals, which are far from aggressive or troublemakers,” she said.