A PET cat that was deliberately put in a rabbit trap has had to be put down.

Jules Vickerman found her pet, Fizz, tied in the rabbit snare and strung up to a holly bush near her home in Berry Brow.

She said: "It's hard to believe.

"She was in unbelievable agony when I climbed through the thicket to cut her down."

Mrs Vickerman was walking her dogs, Jet, Willow and Beezer, in a field by Little Park Wood behind her house when the animals heard a cat crying in pain.

When she followed them over to the holly bush she found her cat writhing in pain.

She said: "Fizz had horrendous injuries. She had no feet left in her struggle to free herself.

"If my dogs hadn't heard her call she would have died in absolute agony."

Mrs Vickerman, who lives on Park Lane, took the three-year-old to Holme Veterinary Centre in Honley to be put down.

She had got Fizz and sister Milly from an RSPCA centre as kittens.

She said: "Fizz was lively and full of fun and mischief. Milly has not been herself since her sister disappeared."

Mrs Vickerman added: "She isn't going far when she leaves the house.

"Fizz was the dominant one, so it will be hard for Milly to get used to the idea that she's gone."

Mrs Vickerman has warned her neighbours to be on their guard.

"I would advise cat owners to report anything suspicious," she said.

She is disgusted that someone could target an animal in this way.

She said: "What kind of world do we live in if people take such perverse pleasure in other creatures' torment?"

The tragedy comes only days after RSPCA officials revealed that a cat had been shot and then burned with a firework in a park in Thornhill.