DISTRAUGHT cat owners have offered £200 reward for the return of their pedigree pet Bella after finding its cut collar abandoned at a farm entrance. The three-year-old long-haired Birman went missing three weeks ago. The Martin family, from Chudleigh Knighton, put up posters, contacted Cats Protection, a local pet shop and police in the hope of finding out the whereabouts of the moggy. Christine Martin, of River Valley Road, said: 'We searched and searched before we went to bed that night and every day we go somewhere different to look.' The family was just giving up hope when when a neighbour found half of the cat's collar. 'It was cut right across – a proper cut, not jagged or anything. It was the half with the disc with cat's name and address. I think someone's stolen her now.' She said that if the cat had been taken for breeding purposes the thieves were going to be disappointed as Bella has been neutered. Her daughter, Claire, had now raised the reward from £40 to £200 in the hope of jogging someone's memory. Mrs Martin fears someone may have taken Bella for her looks. 'She's a real sweetie. We fell in love with her and we all adore her.' Margaret Cooksey, chairman of Cats Protection, Exeter, said she had not come across anything like this in 30 years' of volunteering. 'Why should anyone want to steal a cat when we have got hundreds in our cattery looking for homes?' she asked.
