23 October 2023 , 17:23
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A young cat which was hurled through the window of a moving car on the A500 and then run over by another vehicle before dragging itself to the side of the road has tragically passed away.
Passing motorist Theresa Saini managed to pull over on the southbound slip-road for Wolstanton Retail Park in Newcastle-under-Lyme to rescue the stricken feline after she saw five-month-old Terry – named after his rescuer – being thrown from a purple car which then failed to stop at the scene.
But Terry's injuries – including multiple leg, pelvis and tail fractures – were too catastrophic and he had to be put to sleep over the weekend.
The decision to end Terry's suffering has devastated cat rescue volunteers. Betley Cat Rescue volunteer Michelle Whitmore, 54, said: "We put him to sleep. His injuries were too severe - the poor little thing. We're all devastated. We discussed it late on Friday night and we made the decision on Saturday morning. It happened on Saturday afternoon. He was lying on my knee when it happened, so he wasn't alone."
The section of the A500 where the cat was cruelly thrown from a car (StokeOnTrentLive)
The embankment where Terry was found was hard to reach (StokeOnTrentLive)According to StokeonTrentLive, she added: "Complete strangers had fallen in love with him. People just took him to their hearts. We had people messaging us asking to adopt him and I told them it was still too early to say if he would survive. He has been cremated. We don't know what we are going to do with his ashes. It would be very nice to have some sort of memorial but we do not know what will happen. Everything happened so quickly."
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Theresa, who has a 16-year-old cat called Daisy-May, had earlier said: “I’m absolutely traumatised by what I saw on Wednesday. I haven’t slept and I haven’t eaten a thing - I’m still in shock with what I saw. I was on my way to Stoke to pick up a work colleague. I was in the middle lane – technically the slow lane because it was the part of the A500 where a third lane merges for people going to Wolstanton Retail Park.
"In my peripheral I saw a cat tumbling from a window of an aubergine car in the fast lane, and then it was hit by another car, and then it dragged its back legs behind it to the embankment and disappeared. I pulled onto the slip road, jumped out of my car and ran after the poor cat. It’s a really steep embankment that’s covered in nettles and brambles and lots of wire and rubbish from fly-tipping, but I had to know he was OK. I couldn’t just leave him after what I’d seen.
"I saw him in the distance and he was curled up in a ditch, but it was going to be difficult to get to him and I had to get back to work. I called the police on 101 and told them what happened."
Heroically, she then went to rescue him after work and added: "Eventually I saw a little paw sticking up next to a log, and at first I thought he’d died, but I picked him up and he was still warm and he opened his eyes. He was a little treasure despite being in shock, and he sat in his carrier so well. He’s a sweetheart, how anyone could do something like this is unbelievable and they don’t deserve to have pets."
The incident – which happened between 2.50pm and 3.15pm on Wednesday, October 18 – has been reported to Staffordshire Police. Any witnesses should call the police on 101, quoting incident number 447181023.
A fundraising appeal set up last week to try to cover the cost of Terry's treatment has so far raised almost £10,000 and a reward of £400 is being offered to help locate the suspect. Staffordshire Police have been approached for comment following the incident.