RSPCA investigating after Stitch the cat zip-tied bag, dumped on side of Gorge Road at Millbrook

A cat with a stomach wound has been rescued from a plastic bag that was dumped on the side of an Adelaide Hills road.

An elderly cat missing for three months has been found injured and dumped in a zip-tied bag on the side of the road.

Stitch, a 15-year-old male cat, was found on Gorge Road in Millbrook by sheer luck when an SA Police patrol was passing by.

Stitch, an elderly cat, was found dumped on the side of the road in the Adelaide Hills. Picture: SA RSPCA

Stich after being found inside the bag. Picture: RSPCA South Australia

Officers noticed a cardboard box on the side of the road roughly 600 metres from the Gorge Road and Torrens Hill Road intersection, heading in the Cudlee Creek direction.

On closer inspection, the officers noticed Stitch inside the box, trapped in a zip-tied garbage bag.

When Stich went missing from his Paradise home, his owners reported hearing car doors slam outside their property.

His owners have since surrendered Stitch to the RSPCA South Australia due to “personal circumstances”.

The owners are not being treated as suspects.

Stich was severely underweight as a result of trauma and potential malnutrition over the past three months.

Stitch the cat recoversr from his surgery. Picture: Barb Seidel / RSPCA

He had an infected wound on his stomach and went in for surgery on Wednesday morning.

RSPCA SA chief inspector Andrea Lewis said the profound level of cruelty in dumping any live animal, but particularly this incident, is alarming.

“There is nothing in this situation to indicate this person or persons wanted this animal to survive,” Ms Lewis said.

“They must have been aware that their actions had a high likelihood of causing this old cat a slow, terrifying and agonising death.”

Abandoning an animal is an offence under South Australia’s Animal Welfare Act, and anyone found guilty of such offence can face up to 2 years imprisonment or a $20,000 fine.

“When there are so many humane options available to people with unwanted animals, you have to ask what kind or person would so this,” Ms Lewis added.

“Animals are sentient creatures – they are not garbage. The cruelty is deeply shocking.”

Stitch had to have surgery after being rescued. Picture: SA RSPCA

A police car on the side of Gorge Road, Millbrook, where the cat was found. Picture: SA RSPCA

Anyone with any information in relation to the incident is asked to contact RSPCA on 1300 4 777 22.

It comes after a similar case in November, when eight kelpie puppies were stuffed into bags and shoved into a rest-stop rubbish bin between Wigley Flat and Kingston.

They were found purely by chance by Nicole Olsen who had stopped for a picnic on her way home from Renmark with her daughter.

Ms Olsen later adopted one of the puppies – sadly, two had to be put down.

Stitch the dumped cat is now in the care of RSPCA. Picture: Barb Seidel / RSPCA