A POLICE investigation is under way after a cat died hours after he was shot with what is believed to be an air rifle.
Ernie, an 11-year-old ginger pet, was hit at close range last Thursday. He returned home badly injured and had to be put to sleep later that day.
Owner Kelley Giddy, 36, lives with her husband Daniel, 38, and two children aged five and two, in Seven Acres.
The stay-at-home mum said: "I can't imagine why anyone would do it and why it would even enter your head.
"I don't know how anyone could hurt an animal. I don't think he was targeted he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
Police are appealing for anyone who may have seen anything or who has any other information to contact PC Steve Miller at Basildon Police Station on 101.For more on this story, see this week's Billericay and Wickford Gazette, out on Wednesday.
