![The cat had its head stuck in a tin of cat food, which was amongst the dumped rubbish. Picture supplied The cat had its head stuck in a tin of cat food, which was amongst the dumped rubbish. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/379mw9XPZ7UFRqmwjWhGKkr/5a36b283-b4ea-492d-a4e8-5ca09a5e8ef0.jpeg/r0_0_4032_3024_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A Warrnambool resident fears a cat may have died due to the selfish act of another person if she had not found it in time.
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Colleen Hughson, who regularly takes part in clean-ups for Beach Patrol 3282-3284, was on her way to Spookies Beach, which is near Levys Beach, for a walk on Friday, June 21.
"I came across bags of dumped household garbage in the disused Midfield's rendering plant car park area," Ms Hughson said.
"I used the phone app Snap Send Solve to report the rubbish to the Warrnambool City Council. I also emailed Warrnambool City Council's local laws directly because there were documents that identified the owner of the rubbish."
Ms Hughson said she was feeling angry that people were using the natural environment as a dumping ground.
However, that turned to shock when she was driving back past the dumped rubbish.
"I noticed something furry to the side of the rubbish," Ms Hughson said.
"It took me a while to register that it was a cat with its head stuck inside a tin of cat food. Its whole head had completely disappeared within the tin."
Ms Hughson said she walked slowly up to the cat.
"It did not move," she said.
"I wasn't sure if it was even alive but then I could see shallow breathing.
"It seemed to me like it would be a very slow and painful death if we were to leave the cat. There was no way the cat was going to be able to get unstuck without some help."
Ms Hughson's husband grabbed some gloves out of the car and held the tin can up so gravity would allow the cat to fall out.
"I filmed it because I wanted to show people what can happen when domestic rubbish is dumped," she said.
"In this case it was a feral cat that was harmed but it could have been a wallaby, some other native animal, or someone's pet. The person who dumped the rubbish is a cat owner and so seeing this video might be enough to stop her from dumping rubbish in the future."
Ms Hughson said Warrnambool had a beautiful coastline which needed to be treated with respect.
"I see the Thunder Point and Levys Beach areas as places of beauty, places that deserve respect and care," she said.
"Like anyone who enjoys our wild coast, I feel pretty angry when I come across rubbish dumped in places where I go to enjoy nature.
"It is utterly disrespectful to the natural environment and to wildlife.
"Domestic rubbish does attract animals, and this situation shows that animals are harmed and killed by rubbish dumped in natural environments."