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A heavily pregnant cat is lucky to be alive after it was cruelly dumped in a vat of hot tar.

Lilly was just two weeks away from giving birth when yobs pounced on her and dunked her in the gunge.

She was left in agony as the tar scorched large parts of her skin and caused clumps of fur to drop off.

It solidified on her coat and a passer-by spotted her hobbling along the street looking like a “walking fossil”.

Luckily, Lilly survived her ordeal and was cleaned up by a pet groomer.

Now animal charity Peta has put up a £1,000 reward to find the brutes responsible.

Spokesman Ben Williamson said yesterday: “It is imperative any community faced with such horrific abuse of animals takes measures to find the culprits and stop the violence.

"Animal abusers are a danger to everyone – they take their issues out on whoever is available, human or non-human.”

Black and white cat Lilly was spotted by a shocked member of the public stumbling in pain along a street in Nazeing, Essex, last week.

Staff at Mister Groom in Harlow, who cleaned up Lilly, said she had collected tar on her legs making her paws appear to be double their normal size.

Peta’s £1,000 reward is for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the thugs behind the attack.