Manitoba man accused of trapping, shooting and leaving cat on road

SEVEN SISTERS FALLS, Man. – He’s the boy named Sue, a cat that loves to chase the girls and carouse with friends. He runs the roads so much he’s known by sight wherever he roams.

It may be why he’s still alive today, but missing an eye and a pellet still in his head.

Sue is Suszy, a former feral cat, that was attacked, trapped, shot twice in the head with a pellet gun, then beaten and left for dead last weekend.

The tiny hamlet of Seven Sisters Falls, 90 kilometres east of Winnipeg, is where the cat lived most of his nine lives and where residents were buzzing about his tale this week.

A 66-year-old male resident of the hamlet was arrested Wednesday and will face a charge under the Criminal Code for cruelty to an animal.

He has since been released, pending a court appearance in Beausejour on May 7, say RCMP.

Several residents of the hamlet say snowmobilers came across a man on the trail slamming a stick down on something suspiciously red.

They scared off the man, and took the bloody cat to the nearest vet.

Now the town is raising money to defray the $1,400 vet bill and encouraging well-wishers to mail cards to the cat.

“How someone could do such a cruel thing is beyond me,” local postmaster Darlene McNichol said.

“Canada Post isn’t involved, but I own my own building and I am the postmaster. If people send a card to Suszy, c/o General Delivery, I’ll know where it’ll go. It’s a community thing.”

By noon Thursday, donations had reached several hundred dollars, Hagan said.

A very grateful owner is relieved Suszy’s alive and she said the support she and Suszy are getting is unbelievable.

“Oh my God, you have no idea,” Colleen Frank said. “Everybody’s just been fantastic. I’m overwhelmed.”

(Winnipeg Free Press)