statistics! There are (according to a 5 min search on the internet) 8 million cats in the UK. The CPL's data is that 44% of vets questioned reported airgun injuries and that 46% of those were fatal. CPL are now appealing for more data in order to demonstrate their assertion that more cats are being killed with airguns. Their own data already shows that the total number of pellet-injured cats reported by vets is down around 40% since 1996, but that deaths have risen as a proportion of the total. Like a previous poster, I have no time for the pointless (and already illegal) killing of songbirds or pets to relieve the boredom of modern life; However, there's no debate until there's a ballpark figure for the actual number of cats killed and injured. The Home Office and their select committees (who have recently rejected airgun licensing for England and Wales and are very aware that firearms licensing is under pressure already) are unlikely to introduce a licensing scheme because of 25 dead cats, no matter how amazingly cute they might once have been.