*trigger warning - animal's death* Cat killed "on purpose" in a French train station

[Brrakfastfordinnet]

www.euronews.com/green/2023/01/25/sncf-sued-by-animal-rights-group-after-pet-cat-was-crushed-by-train-at-montparnasse-statio

To summarise: a 4 year old cat escaped from his cage in a train station while his owners (15 year old girl and her mum) were waiting for their train.

The cat's first reflexe was to hide under the train.

They alerted various staff members who refused to help, claiming it was the owners' fault for not being more careful, that it was just a cat, not their problem, that the cat would just hide under the train anyway and would be fine.

The cat got ran over by the train.

They only intervened once the cat was dead, to help pick his body up.

What do you guys think?

I lived in France for a bit, and trains would constantly be delayed for minor issues, unclaimed baggages, etc...
I feel they could definitely have tried to help. If not by delaying the train then by trying to get him back up in the 15 minutes they had between the moment he jumped in and was killed.

Wankers 🤬

that poor cat and their owners

but tbh it's on the pet's owners to keep it safe.

to close a busy train station is a massive undertaking. unreasonable for 'just' a cat.

It does say that they tried for 20 min to call the cat back, in that time the cat could have snuck off elsewhere for all they knew, were they supposed to potentially kill a member of staff to check? It is sad for the owners but I'm not sure what wise they could have done.

Hmmmm difficult one as cats are so unpredictable compared to dogs so I’m inclined to think the owners should have had a belt and braces approach to travelling with a cat- either a lead whilst in a container or a lockable container. As one the cat was out, how were the staff supposed to get it back safely? And how long could they realistically have left the train? Even if they’d not moved the train but pushed the cat out with like a long pole etc, it could easily have darted under another train…

Very sad but not deliberate, and no one at fault other than owners.

I don't think they should have sent a staff member onto electrified tracks to check, nor keep the train at the station indefinitely in case it's still under there (they couldn't tell whether it was). It is sad but the crux is they should have made sure the cage was secure surely? It is sad but I don't think it was worth risking a staff members life for either- unless any of those outraged would have been happy to volunteer?

I expected to read that the cat had been killed by malicious individuals in the train station or perhaps had been killed by staff as the risk of disruption was deemed high and unsafe.

It's ever so sad but I've never ever heard of a cat getting out of a carrier, they should even in the most basic forms be lockable, so while my heart genuinely breaks for them, especially because they knew where the cat was and knew something could have happened to it, it must have been agonising

..but it's not really the fault of staff at the station, as far as I can see. There was no easy solution and if the owners can't get to the cat what chance to the staff have?

This. As an employee I wouldn’t risk my life on a railway line to save a cat.

Actually, I'm not happy with the attitude of "just a cat". If I had any power at all I would have had the train delayed!

It's horrible, but in reality that's a live train line at an active station.

How would you feel if a human had died because they were trying to retrieve the cat?

Totally understand not sending a member of staff to get the cat back out if it was deemed to greater risk. Human life has to be prioritised.

But as an animal lover, feel so sorry for the owners. And it does sound that the station staff could have been more helpful and maybe given them more time to try to lure the cat out.