Poll: Leg hold traps?

A local vet has saved the life of a cat that was badly injured in the jaws of a leg-hold trap.

Phoenix is a soft grey cat that was in serious trouble when he was brought to Theresa Nolet of the AlleyCATS Alliance. His leg had been caught in a trap in a rural area near Highway 3A outside Penticton, yet somehow he survived. 

Nolet brought Phoenix to Dr. Oz at Rose Valley Veterinary Clinic in West Kelowna, who confirmed that the leg was beyond the point of saving and would have to be amputated. 

Oz agreed to do the operation and follow-up visits free of charge, as AlleyCATS Alliance, a new and small society, could not afford the surgery.

"The guess is that someone, whoever had the trap, released Phoenix because otherwise the skin would have been even more damaged," Nolet said in an interview. "The trapper must have come back to check the trap, released the cat and then took off."

Nolet said there are people applying to adopt Phoenix, but he will need a special home because of his injury and the follow-up care that will be required.

AlleyCATS Alliance depends entirely on the generosity of donors to support its efforts to spay/neuter feral cats.

"We are always in need of foster homes, as we do not have a brick and mortar building and rely on the generosity of people who open their hearts and homes to these beautiful creatures," Nolet said in a press release.