But he is a fighter and so far he is winning.
Simon Melville’s family cat returned home last Saturday to his Arrow Junction house near Queenstown with his paw attached to a 1.2kg hard-jaw trap - almost a third of his body weight.
"Somebody’s obviously using these probably to trap possums or stoats, but there’s far more humane ways they could catch even a feral cat which are legal, but not the old gin-trap style.
"It’s semi-rural here, so we get it.
"Cats get hit by tractors or locked in sheds and stuff, but people shouldn’t be using illegal gin traps in the country any more."
The Animal Welfare Act 1999 says gin or leg-hold traps "have metal jaws designed to catch and hold an animal by a limb, usually the leg or foot".
The main animal welfare concerns are injury and distress to the trapped animal, unnecessary suffering if it’s held in the trap too long and the potential for suffering if an injured animal escapes, the Act states.
Mr Melville said Polo must have been in "horrendous pain".
"So far he’s made it, but he’s not out of the woods yet.
"He might have to have a paw amputated or he could have sepsis.
"The vet said, ‘look, the only thing probably counting in his favour is he’s a strong cat and he’s 14 months, so he’s relatively young still’."
His vet bill was likely to be $5000 to $6000.
Two neighbours had also lost cats and they wondered if they also fell foul of gin traps.
"What’s worse is kids or other people by mistake could also walk into one."
