A nine-year-old girl jumped into an Invercargill creek to save a cat which had allegedly been thrown in by a laughing boy.
The tabby is now safe and sound at a foster home after the young girl fished it out of Otepuni Creek and carried it to safety.
Southland Boys' High School is understood to be the school involved and rector Ian Baldwin is running assemblies in an attempt to track the culprits down.
He says his staff are very upset at the allegation, which left the young girl traumatised.
"You don't entertain yourself by throwing animals in the river. It just doesn't happen. In over 40 years of teaching, I've never come across this before," he says.
"What we're thinking is that we have a student who has been damaged, they're a child in need of help. If they're going to be cruel to a cat to that extent, if that's how they get gratification, then God knows what else they'll do.
The cat has been placed into a foster home by local charity Furever Homes, which is still looking for its owner.
A representative said in a Facebook post that the cat was "safe, ok and in front of the fire drying out" on Monday night.
Newshub.
