Lucky is now back home after being allegedly snatched from her central Nanaimo neighbourhood. (Bridgette Duckett/Facebook)

By Ian Holmes

cruelty investigation

‘It’s unimaginable what people can do:’ SPCA investigating alleged cat abduction in Nanaimo

Feb 11, 2021 | 5:00 PM

NANAIMO — A woman has her severely underweight cat back after it went missing for more than a month, while the BC SPCA confirms it has opened an animal cruelty investigation into the matter.

Bridgette Duckett welled up with tears thinking about what her cat, appropriately named Lucky, went through since going missing on Jan. 7.

“It’s horrible to actually look at her, she’s just a skeleton, it’s awful,” Duckett said, who noted Lucky is still quite frail but able to eat and drink on her own power.

She said Lucky was returned to her on Tuesday, Feb. 9, one day after being found without a collar in the Duke Point area.

Duckett said the Facebook community rallied to help bring her cat home.

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“They all just started looking for her and they were out there handing out posters and searching. I was able to have a woman recognize the cat, call CatNap and they called me right away. Without that I don’t know if she would have been found.”

Duckett’s search for her cat caught a break when she noticed a Feb. 4 Facebook post with a picture showing a suspect vehicle and allegation a man associated with it abandoning a cat in Cedar.

Duckett is convinced a man living in her neighbourhood trapped Lucky, hung onto her, then dumped her off.

“It’s unimaginable what people will do to animals, what kind of people are you?”

Lucky was an indoor cat since the time she was welcomed into Duckett’s home until January when she started wandering outside.

Duckett said Lucky would be taken to the vet Thursday night to determine what follow-up care she needs.

Kaley Pugh, BC SPCA regional manager of cruelty investigations for Vancouver Island, said their probe into what happened to Lucky is in its early stages.

She said all of the facts will be gathered to determine if a case can proceed through the courts.

“It’s clearly not legal behaviour and it’s unfortunately something we do hear of not infrequently,” Pugh said of animals being abandoned for a variety of reasons.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes