I’M guessing vets get to see some very unpleasant things during their careers, but the sight of terrible eye injuries to separate cats clearly shocked two of them this week.

I have always wondered why people would buy catapults if not to cause damage to property, animals or people. People with air rifles can legitimately claim they shoot at targets and most of us can accept that.

But the thing about catapults is that they are rarely directly linked to pleasant activity and cheery outcomes.

I still vividly remember one idiot from my neighbourhood going round firing ball bearings at car windscreens during my childhood. A few days later, I was one of several witness to a savage beating as several of the aggrieved drivers tracked him down.

This cowardly character – characters if these are randomly linked attacks – clearly has something wrong with him. But surely his friends or family would notice that he owned a catapult and liked carrying it around, probably firing indiscriminately at defenceless animals.

I reckon it would be quite difficult to hide a silly little habit like that, so why aren’t those family and friends doing the right thing and dragging him off by the scruff of his neck to the nearest police station? Whoever he is, he might not need a beating, but he certainly needs help.