A FAMILY pet faces a fight for life after a cruel animal hater shot him in the head.

Mrs Linda Bradley (36) was devastated when her three-year-old cat, Scamp, staggered to her Radcliffe home and collapsed.

"At first I thought he must have been hit by a car, but when I saw the state of his head I thought a dog must have had him," she said.

Mrs Bradley, from Saltram Close, rushed Scamp to the vet and was distraught when she was told the injuries had been caused by an air rifle.

"My daughter, Victoria, was crying her eyes out," said Mrs Bradley. "I just hope whoever did this realises the upset they have caused.

"I can't believe someone could deliberately shoot him. It must have been somebody local. The vet said that because Scamp's legs were injured too it was likely that he had been walking along a fence when he was shot at."

Scamp, pictured with 14-year-old Victoria. was prescribed painkillers and antibiotics but the vet said that the next three weeks would prove vital.