Pet owner's warning after cat is found with noose around neck in Larne

Ellie Maguire fears her black and white cat Chips could be the victim of illegal animal traps being laid in the Antiville area of the town.

The Greenland Parade woman she is now scared to let her beloved pet out of the house, after it returned home with what appeared to be a thick shoe lace wrapped tight around his throat.

“Chips had been out in the field behind my house, and when he came home I noticed he had something attached to his neck and was struggling to breath,” she added.

“I managed to take the noose off, but it was pulled quite tight in a double knot. Luckily his paw seemed to have got stuck in the noose as well, which probably saved his life.”

The 47-year-old now plans to report the shocking incident to police and has urged other cat owners to be on their guard.

Ellie added: “Chips is very wary around people so I doubt someone put this noose round his neck. It must have been a trap laid by someone, using some sort of pulley system.

“I have no idea why anyone would want to do this to an animal. A number of cats have gone missing in this area in recent months, including one of mine, who was actually Chips’ brother.

“I would urge other cat owners to be on the lookout for this sort of thing. If there are more of these traps out there, it is only a matter of time before someone else’s pet gets hurt.”