Cat injured by crossbow bolt leads to Maricopa animal cruelty investigation

Maricopa police are asking pet owners to be on alert after at least one cat turned up dead, and another was shot through the shoulder with a crossbow.

Smokey the cat is back to his old tricks again, just a few days after someone in his neighborhood shot him with an arrow from a crossbow. The pictures tell a painful story.

"There's no rhyme or reason why someone would do that and I can't guess either why they would," said Smokey's owner, Donald Caldwell.

Caldwell took Smokey to a veterinarian's office where the 1-year-old feline underwent surgery to have the 6-inch arrow, also called a bolt, removed. The vet's bill was over $600, but Smokey is now at home, on medication, wearing a cone and managing to get around the challenges that it presents. His owner is livid that someone was basically hurting his family's cat.

"Somebody hurts my baby, I get upset and that's why I called the law," he said.

Maricopa police say while they have heard of similar incidences involving cats, no one has called them other than Caldwell.

"Without them calling us, we don't have a type of timeline or area where these crimes have occurred, so it's difficult for us to do our job if citizens don't call in," said Ricardo Alvarado of the Maricopa Police Department.

Caldwell says people may never think it will happen to their pet.

"It took me by surprise. I had never expected to have my cat come back home injured. Maybe from scrapping with another cat, but not from someone because he is such a loveable cat."

MPD has a hotline set up for crime tips: 520-316-6900.