The three-year-old animal was discovered on August 15 in a ditch next to the neighbors’ property.
Published
Reading time: 1 min
![An officer of the national gendarmerie. Illustrative image. (MICHEL CLEMENTZ / MAXPPP)](https://www.francetvinfo.fr/pictures/xZGNaYMY9RQa1j6tp6ZfRaBVkFk/0x0:5895x3314/432x243/2024/07/27/maxnewsworldsix039706-66a51782aeb31140332525.jpg)
An investigation was opened on Thursday, August 22 by the Sommières gendarmerie (Gard) after the discovery, on August 15, of the body riddled with lead shot of a three-year-old cat in Fontanès, in the Gard, according to information from France Bleu Gard Lozère.
“My sister and brother-in-law searched for him for days until they came across a cage full of hair, blood and excrement on the neighbor’s property.”tells Lucie, the sister of Marianne, the owner, to France Bleu Gard Lozère. “Their dog will lead them to a ditch, right next door, where they will discover the very damaged body (of the cat, named Cobalt) with bullet holes,” she adds.
After the macabre discovery, on the way home, the cat’s owner received a hidden call, according to her sister: “The voice on the other end of the line laughed and said meow meow before hanging up.”an altercation ensued with a neighbor hunter. “When Cobalt disappeared, we imagined everything… […] But we never said to ourselves that he had been killed by a neighbor, it’s something that we had never considered because it’s so beyond comprehension.”says Lucie, “It’s disgusting, it’s atrocious, there’s no excuse.”
The cat’s owner filed a complaint the following day and the 30 Million Friends Foundation announced that it was taking civil action, and said it had received around a hundred reports since January.