Casper was left looking like the 1970s cartoon character by fly-tipped ink

Mar 27, 2014 18:46 GMT  ·  By

A grey and white cat has surprised his owners when he came back home from a walk through an industrial estate looking like Bagpuss, the pink and white-striped 1970s children's TV star.

Casper the cat returned to his house covered from top to toe in red. His fur was dyed red after crawling through ink dumped at an industrial estate near his home in Eastwood, Essex, on Saturday.

His owner, Jayne Richardson, 40, was both amused and annoyed when she saw her moggie's uncanny appearance, as she is worried that other rubbish left on the industrial estate could seriously harm pets.

After the incident, she followed a trail of red dye on bushes which led her to a pile of waste on the nearby Progress Road industrial estate.

“I can't let Casper out now because he's a bit of a dumb animal, which some cats are. I don't believe in keeping animals indoors, it's all very upsetting,” she said, as reported by Daily Star.

“Now he's pink and looks like Bagpuss. It's an amazing sight. I'm still a bit worried about him, in case he's been poisoned, but he's okay at the moment. [...]For all I knew, this ink could have been toxic and he could have dragged it through the house and on my children.”

Bagpuss was “an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a bit loose at the seams,” who woke up to tell a story every time his owner Emily would leave the room.

Despite a thorough scrub at home and a £50 ($83/€60) power wash at the vet's, Casper is still somewhat pink around the gills.

Jayne says other cats in the neighborhood have been affected and pink foxes have also been spotted in the area. “It’s affected all of us here, as we don’t feel as though we can let our cats out any more, in case they get covered in this ink again,” she added.

Another resident, Lisa Goldsmith, 45, also found her black-furred cat, Pepsi, covered in a bright red liquid recently.

Ms. Richardson is angry and concerned about health and hygiene issues. She says that fly tipping is to blame for the unpleasant situation in the area, adding that rubbish has also attracted vermin that could easily enter the residents' houses if they leave their back doors open.

On the other hand, a Southend Council spokesman said they always took reports of environmental hazards seriously.