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AIBU?

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Original poster

Would you kill your pet if ordered to by the gov't?

638 replies

JackiePlace · 02/03/2023 12:31

I read in the news this morning that at the beginning of the Covid crisis the gov't considered ordering the culling of all domestic cats in order to prevent the spread of Covid. This idea was later abandoned after it was proven that cats couldn't transmit Covid to humans.
AIBU to think that this would have caused a mass uprising? We are a nation of animal lovers, after all. Or would people have accepted it as they did some of the other draconian regulations (not visiting dying relatives, etc).

www.lbc.co.uk/news/govt-cat-cull-covid-pandemic/

OP posts:
RattlewhenIwalk · 02/03/2023 15:10

Not a cat in hell's chance (geddit). Not least because my cat is an indoor cat. Aside from that she's a darn sight cleaner than some humans!

Floralnomad · 02/03/2023 15:11

Not a chance but our family cats are indoors and out only in their catio so not spreading diseases or killing wildlife anyway

KatherineJaneway · 02/03/2023 15:13

Autumndays123 · 02/03/2023 12:52

I would never do this. That said, you only had to read Mumsnet and the mass hysteria going on for the two years after COVID to know that many, many people would have been lining up to kill their own pets if told to do so. Honestly, the things I read on here at the time left me flabbergasted. There were actually people walking among us who thought the world would end due to covid. Let's not forget the massive amounts of people on here who argued that either the vulnerable people should be able to lockdown forever and given a salary by the government to live, or alternatively we should all lockdown forever to protect the vulnerable. I think Covid showed how easily the public can be manipulated and turn into to panicked animals. I do wonder how many of the avid Mumsnet posters left the site after COVID calmed down because they were embarrassed by their posts. I certainly would have been.

So no, I would not have killed my pet for anything but I imagine many people would do have.

I won't forget the MNer who told me that milk and bread are not essentials.

Eightiesgirl · 02/03/2023 15:19

@Clovacloud your nan is my hero. Good on her!

MyOldFriendTime · 02/03/2023 15:21

Aposterhasnoname · 02/03/2023 14:05

I’m not a cat person but there’s not a chance in hell I’d have stood by and let this happen.

Good for you 👍

And good for Clovacloud's Nan.

I think we will put up with a lot of shit, be pushed and dictated to 'for the greater good' but touch our pets and all hell will break loose 🤬

lieselotte · 02/03/2023 15:22

My mum has been adopted by a neighbour's cat. She tested positive for covid in 2020 but didn't have any symptoms. She spent her isolation gardening and the cat spent all his time with her. One of her friends said it was wrong because she could give the cat covid and he could give it to his actual owners.

So yes, I think people would have done in the covid madness.

However, it's true that having pets is bad for the environment but it doesn't stop people getting new ones.

MyOldFriendTime · 02/03/2023 15:22

I won't forget the MNer who told me that milk and bread are not essentials

You'll put cheese in your coffee and be grateful !!!! 😆😂😆

lieselotte · 02/03/2023 15:23

I won't forget the MNer who told me that milk and bread are not essentials

Grin

I don't remember the bread thing, but I do remember someone saying that you didn't need milk and could put cheese in your tea or something like that?

Trinity65 · 02/03/2023 15:24

They would have to kill Me first.

They done this early in the War, according to Grandad. Cats and Dogs taken and put down!! Not Grandad's pets though, Bless Him
It did not last long but it did occur.

Mentalpiece · 02/03/2023 15:24

Not a chance.

Marmunia10661975 · 02/03/2023 15:25

My cat is as valued as my child.

I can see the gov calling for a pet cull for the climate change scam though - something to look out for.....

Twilight7777 · 02/03/2023 15:25

Reading this post sparked a rage in me that the government would even consider that! Especially because my cat was there during one of the darkest times of my life (pre covid) and essentially kept me going (she was more like a dog and I now have a dog like a cat 😆). I would have been willing to kill if it kept my animals safe!

KatherineJaneway · 02/03/2023 15:26

lieselotte · 02/03/2023 15:23

I won't forget the MNer who told me that milk and bread are not essentials

Grin

I don't remember the bread thing, but I do remember someone saying that you didn't need milk and could put cheese in your tea or something like that?

Yes!

Original poster
JackiePlace · 02/03/2023 15:27

AllOfThemWitches · 02/03/2023 14:02

It would have been done humanely FFS.

How would it be done? Not professionally because that would have involved coming into contact with other cats and humans.

The government notice that went out during WW2 telling people to euthanize their pets came with an edvertisement for an establishment selling bolt guns.

OP posts:
Want2beme · 02/03/2023 15:28

JackiePlace · 02/03/2023 12:44

When the Second World War was starting, the government distributed leaflets asking that people euthanise their pets, and in London people queued around the block to tearfully do so.
@Serrassi I never knew this before! It is never featured to my knowledge in any film or documentary about WW2.
In a way it's surprising that they didn't suggest the pets should be eaten.
Horrific either way!

I became aware of it through watching Stephen Poliakoff's Glorious 39. I found it very upsetting.

I believe the government issued an apology. Apparently, they were not in favour of it, but hysteria took hold and some people even killed their own pets. Doesn't bear thinking about.

WildRosie · 02/03/2023 15:30

Larry, the Downing Street cat. I have little doubt that he would have survived/escaped/been exempted from any national cat cull.

AlecTrevelyan006 · 02/03/2023 15:31

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24478532

...
At the beginning of World War II, a government pamphlet led to a massive cull of British pets. As many as 750,000 British pets were killed in just one week. This little-discussed moment of panic is explored in a new book.

The cull came as the result of a public information campaign that caused an extraordinary reaction among anxious Britons.

In the summer of 1939, just before the outbreak of war, the National Air Raid Precautions Animals Committee (NARPAC) was formed. It drafted a notice - Advice to Animal Owners.

The pamphlet said: "If at all possible, send or take your household animals into the country in advance of an emergency." It concluded: "If you cannot place them in the care of neighbours, it really is kindest to have them destroyed."

...

fromdownwest · 02/03/2023 15:33

To be fair, people happily allowed their children to have their education removed, be masked and locked in their own home. They stood by as elderly people died in care homes on their own, watched as cancer patients had their treatment cancelled.

Stood by as small business were decimated and case after case of child creulty came to fruition.

So yes I think people would have done it, the collective mind of people went crazy.

It is all now coming out with these messages, that the 'Tin Foil hat wearing, granny killing, selfish spreaders' were actually correct.

To answer the questions, I don't think it would have gone down without a fight.

gogohmm · 02/03/2023 15:36

No not ddog but he's is old and we could keep him on our land easily. Dcat on the other hand, doing me a favour (it's not my cat !)

JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon · 02/03/2023 15:37

JackiePlace · 02/03/2023 12:44

When the Second World War was starting, the government distributed leaflets asking that people euthanise their pets, and in London people queued around the block to tearfully do so.
@Serrassi I never knew this before! It is never featured to my knowledge in any film or documentary about WW2.
In a way it's surprising that they didn't suggest the pets should be eaten.
Horrific either way!

It was mainly dogs and cats that were destroyed due to the difficulties feeding them and the fact that we don't eat them.

Rabbits were kept and eaten, people continued to breed them as they could be used to supplement your rations. Same with chickens.

Horses who served in the army during WWI were used for meat when the war ended.

Pubesofsoberness · 02/03/2023 15:38

What? Mr Rigby 🙀🙀 not a chance

catscatscurrantscurrants · 02/03/2023 15:41

No. I didn't think it was possible for me to despise the government more than I already did, but life is full of surprises.

Ilovelurchers · 02/03/2023 15:43

I really really really love my dog, but I don't think his life is more important than that of any human, so if I was sufficiently convinced that by keeping him alive I was posing a significant risk to human life then yes of course I would. I would hope to find a humane way to do it, not just throttle him with my bare hands or something. Though I suppose I would even do that to save human lives ....

Surely2023IsTheYearForMyRainbowBaby · 02/03/2023 15:43

Would I fuck

alllllie · 02/03/2023 15:45

People went completely insane during covid and many would have complied with this.

While we're on the subject: remember how MPs and officials enjoyed parties during lockdown? They were the best-informed people in the entire country, and they weren't worried one bit about socialising, even as they told the country it was too dangerous. It was all politics, and 'The Science' had little to do with any of it.

Don't be so bloody stupid, hysterical and credulous next time, eh.