Where the wild things are….
Dogs and cats have been popular companion animals to humans for thousands of years. As society and how it lives changed, so did some of the potential risks to the animals that share our environment as domesticated species.
Although popularity levels are close, caring for cats and dogs is obviously extremely different in terms of what an animal needs.
A lot of cats are given access to the outdoors, and are regarded as free roaming. Because of this, the law has to date, viewed them as less “owned” than dogs and this has resulted in them receiving less protection from the law if they’re involved in a road traffic accident. A lady in the UK named Helen Abrahams recently secured more than 50,000 signatures requesting that the law be reviewed to afford cats the same treatment if they were injured or killed on the road.
The petition received backing from TV personalities and the
government actually discussed the subject last month. The discussion sadly didn’t
have the result most people who signed the petition were hoping for, as no real
changes have been made to the current laws. The response stated:
“We do not consider that it is necessary to
introduce a new law requiring cats involved in road
traffic accidents to be checked for a microchip because it is already good
practice for local authorities to do so. Cats and dogs become
members of the family and it is a great source of worry and uncertainty when
they are injured or lost. The Government encourages
veterinary practices and rehoming centres to scan cats and dogs brought to their premises so that their owners can
be identified. In cases of road traffic accidents, we encourage local
authorities to identify the owners where possible.”
Unfortunately, most people believe until the issue is addressed by placing a law to protect the welfare of cats the same way as dogs harmed on the road, there’s no guarantees that the encouragement will result in the scan for a chip.
The petition is still open. If you are a UK resident and feel strongly that the subject needs further discussion, you can find the petition by following the link below.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/229004?reveal_response=yes
