Cat named after Notorious BIG shot 15 times - but lives to tell the tale

A cat has been described as a "miracle" animal after it survived being shot 15 times by a pellet gun.

Biggie, named after the deceased legendary rapper Notorious BIG, went missing from his home in Prince George, Canada, on 3 November.

Her owner Nicole Crandell described how she spent two and a half weeks looking for her pet before a vet contacted her to say it had been found over 15km away. It was also discovered that Biggie had been riddled with pellets from a gun and needed to be operated on immediately.

"He had pellets in his head, in his cheek, his neck, his jaw, his back," Crandell told CBC News.

"The vet said the way the pellets were in his head, it's like a pellet gun was held up to his head and his body... they were doing this on purpose."

Crandell says she is "completely disgusted" that someone from her hometown would be capable of inflicting such cruelty on an animal.

Thankfully Biggie is back at home and is now recovering from its trauma. "He's a little miracle cat," Crandell said.

The murder of Notorious BIG, aka Christopher Wallace, shocked the US in 1997. No one has been held accountable for his death despite the case's massive publicity.