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String of pellet gun shootings leads to animal control investigation in Hillsborough neighborhood

At least 5 cats have been shot, three have died.

TOWN 'N' COUNTRY, Fla. — A sickening trend in a Hillsborough County mobile home community has led to an investigation by animal control after several cats have been found with pellets in them.

"We seem to be finding them on the doorstep or coming up to eat with bullet pellet wounds in their body. They seem to be from the abdomen to the back legs," Kristy Bush, a local feral cat trapper said.

Bush says it's been happening at the Three Lakes Mobile Home Community since last April. The cats are some of the 300 she's trapped and had spayed and neutered to help control the feral cat population.

"These are cats that have been in my car that I've waited for at the vet that I've brought back here and return to the field to live out their lives without having problems, and then we have problems. It's heartbreaking. It just tears my heart out," Bush said.

X-rays show the pellets lodged inside the cat's bodies. The last was one hit was named Phantom.

"He showed up last week dead on the doorsteps and he had two pellets in him," Bush said.

At least three cats have been killed after being shot in the neighborhood. 

While animal control tries to figure out who's responsible, officials said abuse like this tends to take up now during the summer because it's mating season.

"There's just been a rash of animal abuse around the state of Florida. I realize there's a lot of cats out there, but taking matters into your own hands is never the right answer when it comes to animal cruelty," Christine McLarty, a public relations manager with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay said.

That's why the Humane Society is doing all they can to help catch whoever did this by offering $2,500 to anyone with information that leads to an arrest.

"We believe somebody in that community saw something. Those homes are so close together in that community that if somebody didn't hear something or see something, it would kind of be a shock," McLarty said. 

While animal control investigates, Bush will survey the neighborhood in her cat mobile. 

She wants whoever did this to know they will be found.

"We're watching. We're gonna get you! There are cameras up all over the place. I hope you get the consequences you deserve to the full extent of the law," Bush said.

Anyone with information related to the shootings is urged to call Hillsborough County Animal Control at 813-744-5660.

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