Family Wants Answers After Cat Fatally Shot With Arrow

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - A family pet in Brookline is dead after police say someone shot it through the chest with an arrow. The Orr family is now demanding answers and asking police to investigate.

Nathan Orr said he heard his cat, Ollie, meowing very loudly and in pain on Saturday night.

"I thought my cat was fighting with another cat and I looked out of the window and saw he had an arrow through his back and out of his chest," said Orr. "And unfortunately my kids also witnessed that."

Orr said his two sons, ages 6 and 3, are devastated after this tragedy. The family lives on Elmbank Street, a dead-end street lined with single-family homes.

"It's not a good first brush with a loved one passing on [for the boys]," said Orr. "It was a cat, but it was part of our family. Ollie was a part of our family."

Orr thinks that someone targeted his cat.

"It looked deliberate," said Orr. "Due to the fact that it was a target practice arrow leads me to believe it wasn't a hunting accident."

There is a wooded area behind Orr's home, but not one that allows hunting.

Orr said he rushed Ollie to an emergency vet in Castle Shannon, but it was too late. The arrow had punctured the cat's lungs. He said he will now focus on comforting his fiancé, two sons and wait for police to investigate.

"They took it hard, they took it very hard," said Orr. "Especially when we told my 3-year-old that he had to say goodbye."

Pittsburgh Police's Humane Officer Christine Luffey said she plans to knock on every door along Elmbank Street to investigate this incident.

Orr said that Ollie was an indoor cat, but every once in a while he would make a break for the backyard. He said he always stayed in the yard near the bushes. Orr thinks that's where he was when he was struck with the arrow.

Officer Luffey told KDKA she wants to remind all cat owners to keep their cats inside because they face too many dangers outside: including being hit by vehicles, contracting diseases, being hurt by other animals, and human cruelty.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Pittsburgh Police.

If you'd like to donate to help cover the Orr family's veterinarian bills, click here https://www.gofundme.com/JusticeForOllie