Online forum highlights violence against cats

Lee Chambers, from Stanley Road, Wick set up a dedicated page to his cat Toby, after he was inundated with people asking how his pet was recovering.

Since then, the page on the social media website has quickly gained nearly 800 followers and has been used as a resource for people to share news of similar attacks.

Lee feels the page has become a means of shining a spotlight on animal cruelty.

He also hopes it can help gain signatures for a petition calling on crimes against animals to be heard at crown courts and receive stiffer sentencing.

Lee, 42, set Toby’s Facebook page up last month, which is when the animal was attacked.

He said: “At first I set the page up because I had so many people contacting me about Toby, but then someone asked if I could post some information about their cat. “I really was shocked at how many people have spoken to me and said how rife a problem this is. It’s bad enough locally, but nationally and internationally it’s ridiculous. It seems to be almost a hobby for some to harm animals.”

Lee said the page has also had the benefit of helping the RSPCA.

He added: “An officer had been on sick leave and when she returned she said the page had already done a lot of work for her because it has information and pictures of attacks that have happened.”