Cat Survives Being Shot in the Face Twice with a Rifle

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Recently, a cat named Vespa was shot by a body shop owner named Sean Stanford in Albuquerque, NM. Apparently, the cat had been visiting the body shop for about three months with the result that he managed to befriend several of Stanford’s employees. For whatever reason, Stanford disliked this, so much so that he threatened to kill the cat before attempting to make good on his promise with his rifle several weeks later. In total, Vespa was shot twice in the face. Fortunately for Vespa, one of Stanford’s employees found him and then brought him to a veterinarian. As a result, Vespa received the surgeries that he needed to save his life, which is why he is now at the Albuquerque Eastside Animal Shelter where he will become eligible for adoption in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, Stanford was charged with extreme cruelty, though as of September 8 of 2019, he hadn’t been taken into custody in spite of the arrest warrant that has been issued.

What Kind of Damage Does a Bullet Do Anyways?

It would be an overstatement to say that Vespa was lucky. After all, if he was lucky, he wouldn’t have been shot in the face in the first place. However, Vespa was very lucky for a cat that was shot in the face in the sense that the bullets could’ve done much worse than what they did. There is a wide range of bullets fired from a wide range of weapons, which in turn, means that there can be a wide range of effects. For example, there are some bullets called full metal jacket bullets, which means that they have soft core encased in something harder. As a result, such bullets tend to travel in a straight line with minimal expansion when they hit someone or something, thus resulting in considerable damage to the tissues that lie in their path. Often-times, full metal jacket bullets will have sufficient force to over-penetrate. Other times, they can become lodged in the body upon being stopped by either bone or some other kind of tissue.

In contrast to these, there are expanding bullets, which are meant to expand upon hitting someone or something. This reduces the chances of over-penetration and its potential consequences. However, expanding bullets tend to cause bigger wounds because of their expansion. Furthermore, expanding bullets can fragment when they enter the body, thus causing more damage to the surrounding tissues than otherwise possible. The fact that Vespa survived long enough to be brought to a veterinarian means that he was lucky that he wasn’t shot somewhere that would’ve been more immediately fatal. This is particularly true because he was shot in th face, which is a rather dangerous location to say the least. On the whole, the location wasn’t much a consolation for having been shot, but it was still much better than something that would have made for a more lethal wound.

Why Do People Engage in Animal Cruelty Anyways?

Animal cruelty is something carried out by a wide range of people in a wide range of settings under a wide range of circumstances. For example, it is carried out by people of all economic as well as social backgrounds. Likewise, it happens in rural, urban, and suburban areas. On top of this, animal cruelty can come in numerous forms. Sometimes, it looks like what happened in this particular case. Other times, it looks like hoarding, which is when a love of animals is coupled with addictive behavior as well as a horrific level of self-delusion. Unfortunately, one of the issues with animal cruelty is that it is under-reported, so much so that it is difficult to figure out exactly what is going on as well as what can be done to stop it. Still, the subject of animal cruelty is one that interests a lot of people out there, so it should come as no surprise to learn that this lack of exact information hasn’t stopped various interested parties from looking into it.

With that said, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of solid conclusions on the issue. For instance, it is a common belief that childhood animal cruelty is connected with anti-social behavior as adults. However, the evidence isn’t particularly strong because while 35 percent of violent offenders had committed an act of animal abuse when they were younger, so had 37 percent of the non-criminal population. Still, there is one study that suggests that animal cruelty might be connected to sadism, which is when someone feels pleasure from inflicting pain on others. Essentially, the study asked participants to rate themselves on various issues, thus providing the researchers with a general picture of who they were as well as what motivated them. After which, the participants were presented with a choice between dropping pill bugs into a killing machine, helping the researchers kill bugs, cleaning toilets, or putting their hand in very cold water. As it turns out, those with higher sadism scores weren’t just more willing to kill the pill bugs but also more inclined to kill more pill bugs. Still, this is just one study, meaning that it isn’t enough to establish much about exactly what is going on with these cases.

What Should Cat Owners Do If Their Cat Has Been Shot?

On a final note, cat owners might want to inform themselves about what they should do if their cat is ever the victim of a shooting. Generally speaking, if a cat has been shot, chances are good that the cat owner will be very clear about what has happened. However, cat owners should nonetheless be on the lookout for telltale symptoms such as bleeding, small, open wounds, noticeable limping, and breathing problems. If they ever notice such problems, they should take their cat to the veterinarian as soon as possible because bullet wounds are extremely dangerous, particularly since the full extent of the damage might not be evident from an external inspection. Veterinarians are the ones with the expertise, the experience, and the equipment needed to determine what has happened, which in turn, will decide what procedures can be carried out to ensure the best possible outcome.