A CAT left for dead in a pet carrier and half buried in the sand, is a sight that Kelly Steen wishes she could remove from her child's eyes.
The mother was walking along Redhead beach on Thursday morning, October 17, with her four-year-old son when she noticed a young girl near the carrier.
"I asked her to move away and she said something furry was inside. No child should have to see that," she said.
"Who would do this? Was it left in its cage to die in the heat on the beach?"
Ms Steen said the cat looked grey, white and fluffy, and was semi buried off the side of a track down to the beach along the tree line.
"I reached out to the lost and found Facebook page where people recommended calling council and the RSPCA. I did both," she said.
The incident was reported to RSPCA who confirmed they were aware of the matter and it was currently under investigation.
While waiting for authorities to make a decision, Ms Steen said a local admin of the lost and found Facebook page reached out and organised a local vet to come and collect the cat.
"The vet was also amazing, I had my son with me and she told him she was taking the cat to help it get better," she said.
A Lake Macquarie City Council spokesperson said rangers were preparing to search the Redhead dunes after receiving the report of the dead cat inside a pet carrier.
"It emerged that a member of the public had already taken the cat to a local vet, where it was scanned for a microchip. A microchip was detected, but the details relate to a cat breeder, rather than the person who bought the cat," they said.
The matter is being treated as an animal cruelty case and has been referred to the RSPCA.
