A cat owner fears someone could be deliberately targeting animals with an air rifle after her cat was wounded.

Emily Higgins returned home to St Mary’s Green in Kennington to find her cat Mini behaving strangely and refusing to enter the house via the cat flap.

She said: “I had gone shopping and came back to see her sitting on the front lawn. She doesn’t normally stray that far.

“I saw blood on her tail, so I put a tissue to her and it was completely soaked in blood. I could see a glint of metal in her tail. I felt terrible and very angry.

“I can’t believe that there are people out there that do things like this. I had seen that something like this happened in the past where a cat was hit by an air rifle pellet and died.”

Mrs Higgins said she has spoken to neighbours and cat owners to alert them to the danger that someone is deliberately inflicting harm upon the cats.

She has also called the police on 101 to report last Wednesday's incident as a crime, to highlight it as an ongoing problem.

She added: “Mini has been very lucky. She has been assessed by the vet again, and it is possible she could need her tail to be amputated if it becomes infected and becomes worse.

“She is still on antibiotics and painkillers, but she is making a good recovery and went to the vets again on Saturday. I’m hopeful she won’t have to go back, but for now it’s just wait and see.”

A police spokesman said no other incidents have recently been reported.

If you have information, call police on 101 using reference number ZY/006189/16.