Young cat injured by trap set in downtown Kelowna

KELOWNA – Nova is a city cat.

At only nine months old, much of his day is spent investigating new objects in his downtown Kelowna neighbourhood. A few days ago, on Jan. 26, his curiosity almost cost him one of his lives when he stepped in a trap set to catch and hold small wild animals.

Owner Jenny Giesbrecht says somehow, Nova managed to drag the trap all the way home on his own.

“My daughter saw him sitting on the cat post outside. No idea how he jumped up there with (the trap) on his front paw,” she says. “He dragged it home on his foot.”

Giesbrecht estimates Nova is around nine pounds, but looks larger.

"He's a big black fluffball. I wonder if being so fluffy minimized the damage,” she says. “I can't believe he doesn't have a broken paw after dragging that home.”

Giesbrecht says Nova's paw was swollen at first but he’s already back to his old self.

“He was attacking my leg and biting my foot as I got ready for work this morning,” she says affectionately. “He's a bit of a dick.”

She wants residents of the Cawston Road area of downtown Kelowna to know what happened.

“My best guess is someone was trying to trap a raccoon or didn't realize a rat would be too light to set it off,” she says. “I really hope it wasn't purposefully set out for cats.”

Kelowna SPCA branch manager Sean Hogan says anyone who finds an animal in distress can call the SPCA Cruelty Hotline 1-855-622-7722.

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