A Brooklet area man was arrested Thursday after being charged with shooting a pet housecat in the eye with an arrow.
      The black cat named Whitey is in serious condition at Gateway Animal Hospital, and Charles Leonard Phillips, 33, Old River Road South, is out on bond from the Bulloch County Jail. He faces a court appearance for aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony, said Bulloch County Humane Officer Joey Sanders.
      The cat’s owners found it on the porch, an arrow through its head, crying pitifully two days after it disappeared, he said. Whitey usually stays inside, but had escaped the house and wandered to a spot where it became a target.
      The wound was so infected, in spite of care at the veterinarian’s office, Whitey will lose an eye, Sanders said.
Phillips denied shooting the cat at first, but Bulloch County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeffrey Thompson found evidence, including arrows with fletching that matched the one Whitey carried home, he said.
      Then Phillips said he had shot a black cat, but claimed “it could have been an armadillo,” he said.
      Thompson gathered enough evidence to arrest Phillips on the felony animal cruelty charges and took him to jail, where he later posted bond.