Police investigate firearm attack on pregnant cow

A farmer has been left horrified after yobs launched a brutal gun attack and blasted one of his pregnant cows in the face. 

The poor animal was brutally attacked in woodland where it was sheltering from a thunderstorm with around 50 cattle. 

And now Andrew Smith, who runs the Dunlichity farm near Inverness with his son William, is calling for police to seriously investigate the incident. 

Andrew found the badly injured blue-grey heifer in the woods near his farm and immediately called for a vet, who confirmed the injuries were very recent. 

He believes a small rifle was used in the attack on the two-and-a-half year-old cow. 

Andrew, who has been farming for 36 years, said: "The cattle had escaped into the local forestry. It doesn't take much to set them off. 

"We got it inside, got the vet and the vet examined it and could see it had been shot. 

"Its face was all swollen on one side and blood was coming out of its nose. It was struggling to breathe. We had to put it to the slaughterhouse to put it down. 

"I'm not very happy - apart from the loss of the animal - with the fact that people are wandering about shooting stuff. 

"There are plenty of people that shoot animals who know what they're doing, but obviously this person doesn't know what they're doing and it's not safe, is it? 

"Because there is a firearm involved I am hoping the police will be taking this seriously. 

"The difficulty is that there may be no witnesses. If a person was shot it might be different." 

Andrew was able to account for the rest of his cattle and had them safely rounded up. 

Local councillor Norrie Donald said: "I think this is absolutely shocking. How can people be so cruel to animals? 

"It beggars belief that someone would do such a dreadful thing to any animal and leave it suffering, possibly for hours. That's a sad, sad thing. 

"It could happen to a child. If anyone thinks they might know anything about this they should report it because it could involve a human being. 

"It just takes your breath away that people are so mindless to do such a thing to a poor animal." 

Drew Hendry, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said: "This is a horrific and senseless crime. 

"I would urge anyone with knowledge of any of the circumstances surrounding this dreadful act to contact the police." 

The incident comes after a 22-year-old man was recently arrested for the theft of 12 pedigree sheep from a farm in Caithness.