Ledger-Dispatch

By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.c= om)=20

Vietnam War veteran Harold Spicer holds = his cat=20 Buddy shortly after it returned home from an operation to have its = leg=20 amputated following a pellet gun attack.

Photo by: Scott Thomas=20 Anderson

On Oct. 13, Jan and Stevens Price's cat = was shot=20 in the hip with a BB pellet.

Photo by: Scott Thomas=20 Anderson
Harold Spicer has had 39 years = to get used=20 to living without the leg he lost in Vietnam. Now his cat, Buddy, is = getting=20 used to a similar reality after being shot with a pellet gun by an = unidentified=20 assailant, which caused Buddy's right hind leg to be = amputated.

The=20 incident, along with a similar attack that occurred two weeks earlier in = Pioneer, has Amador pet lovers getting the word out that firing these = weapons at=20 felines can inflict major damage - as well as earn the perpetrators a = trip to=20 the county jail.

When Spicer initially moved to Ione, Buddy was = the first=20 personality he got to know. Originally belonging to his neighbor, Cindy = Dearmon,=20 Buddy showed an instant affinity for Spicer. When Dearmon realized her = cat was=20 constantly hanging around the neighbor's yard, she gave him to the = disabled war=20 veteran.

On Nov. 2, Spicer looked on in shock as Buddy staggered = inside=20 with a bleeding hole in his leg. "My neighbors said that the injury was = so=20 traumatic that Buddy had been hiding up on top of my roof the entire = day,"=20 Spicer remembered. "As soon as I saw him, I knew something was really = wrong with=20 him."

Spicer rushed the cat to a vet and learned that Buddy had = been shot=20 with a pellet gun. The official prognosis was that Buddy would require a = $1,200=20 amputation of the leg or have to be put to sleep. "Dr. Kacye at Jackson = Creek=20 Veterinary (Clinic) agreed to do the operation for much less," Spicer = explained.=20 "I got help paying for it from A-PAL, too. The people who stepped up for = Buddy=20 are heroes to me."

On Nov. 7, Buddy successfully underwent the = procedure.=20 He's now recovering at home. Spicer has contacted the Ione Police = Department,=20 which is now investigating the assault.

"I'm afraid whoever did = this is=20 someone who hates cats," Dearmon said. "People who commit crimes like = this=20 against cats are disgusting."

Cases like Buddy's aren't = necessarily=20 unusual in the foothills. On Oct. 13, Jan and Stevens Price of Pioneer=20 discovered their cat, Pita, limping and bleeding. "He was in a lot of = pain," Jan=20 recalled. "He wouldn't even put any weight on his hind leg."

The = next=20 day, an X-ray revealed a BB pellet was lodged in Pita's hip. At first, = the=20 veterinarian feared the cat would need a $1,000 operation. It was later=20 determined that Pita could recover without the invasive=20 procedure.

"Pita's doing a lot better now," Stevens told the = Ledger=20 Dispatch Saturday night. "In some ways, he won't be able to move the = same ways=20 he could before. But in general, he'll end up being pretty close to how = he=20 was."

The Price family had initially contacted the Amador County=20 Sheriff's Office about the assault on Pita - though they requested the = deputy=20 not investigate until they had a chance to speak to the parties they = believed=20 were responsible.

"I don't think the person who did it meant to = seriously=20 injure our cat," Jan said. "I think they were trying to break up a cat = fight or=20 shoo him away from their property. I imagine, when it's a BB gun and not = a real=20 gun, people assume it will just sting a bit and make the cat not come = around.=20 But what happened to Pita should prove that BB guns and pellet guns can = inflict=20 devastating injuries to cats."

Undersheriff Jim Wegner made it = clear that=20 anyone who shoots a cat with a BB gun or pellet gun can be charged with = willful=20 infliction of an injury upon an animal under section 579 of the Penal = Code.=20 Additional firearm charges can also be added, depending on the = circumstances.=20 Owners of pets that have been shot by a BB gun or pellet gun can also = hold the=20 responsible parties civilly liable in court.

By Wednesday, a = groggy and=20 tentative Buddy was at home learning how to move around on three legs. = "I think=20 he's still pretty sore," Spicer observed. "I know how sore and out of it = I was=20 when I lost my leg."

Petting the recovering feline on the head, = he added,=20 "I never thought I'd have a friend who was in the same boat as = me."

Scott Thomas = Anderson