A MUCH-LOVED family cat is lucky to be alive after being caught by a wire snare in Wordsley.

Frankie, a seven-year-old British Blue moggie, used up one of his nine lives after he was caught around the neck and front paw by a trap which had pulled so tight he had to be cut free by a vet.

His owner, Stef Brain, from Brooklands, was so upset she broke down in tears as Frankie was freed from the snare, which may have been set to trap rabbits or vermin.

She said: “The vet said if he had pulled it much more it would have been fatal, it had gone over his head - a toddler could have been trapped by it and not knowing where it came from is worrying.

“It is disgusting that this kind of thing could be out there, I was shaking and upset, Frankie was very lucky and he used to love going out but he has now gone very timid.”

Administration worker Stef, aged 29, says Frankie returned home this morning (Monday June 6) with the wire wrapped tightly around his body and the sight of his injuries left her sons, aged nine and ten, so upset they did not want to leave him.

Stef and her husband Andy reported the incident to the police and the RSPCA but she says it seems unlikely anyone will be prosecuted for the incident.

Vet Kathryn Cave, from Connaught House Vetenary Surgery, Broad Street, Kingswinford, who treated Frankie, said: “Hopefully there won’t be any lasting damage but he is a very lucky cat.”

She added it is uncommon for domestic pets to fall victim to snares although occasionally wild animals like badgers are caught.

Snares of the free running type, which relax if a captured animal stops struggling, are legal in Britain.

A government code of practice for the use of snares says “snares must not be set on or near public footpaths, rights of way, near housing and areas regularly used for exercising domestic animals to avoid capturing pets”.