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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
MysteryBelle · 02/03/2023 16:56

Rainbowdrops2021 · 02/03/2023 16:47

It makes me laugh how sure everyone is on here that they wouldn’t allow it. Mumsnet was the absolute worst place for insisting people comply no matter their circumstances, with people saying some truly horrific things to others with no empathy what so ever. There was no room for humanity just follow the rules and do what your government tells you. Some of you are full of it saying you wouldn’t have complied. I wouldn’t even let them touch a hair on my pets head but then I didn’t listen to those assholes in the first place, they were clearly profiting from everything they done and still are and they didn’t even follow the rules themselves.

You absolutely hit the nail on the head. Comply or else is their mantra.

ReliantRobyn · 02/03/2023 16:57

MysteryBelle · 02/03/2023 16:54

I knew lefties would pull their tricks out. Conservatives are not very conservative anymore, they’ve been taken over by the left like everything else. Most of them pander to the left because they know who really holds the power. We all know this. Our Republicans (conservatives) in USA have been taken over by the Democrats. There are only a few brave ones and I suspect same is true in the UK.

It is a fact here in the USA that the Democrats pretend to be the caring party but that is just a front to destroy everything they can and enrich themselves along with their buddies who infiltrated our own party. Stupid Biden who Obama foisted upon us left billions in weapons and military equipment in Afghanistan, the left are never held to account yet pin their crimes on others, Biden has done so many destructive things, the list is so long there’s no room. Crazy inflation, still everybody acts like that’s fine.

Show quote history

Hi. This is a thread about cats. Cats. You could start a looney thread yourself if you want though?

fufulina · 02/03/2023 16:58

It happened in 1939 - 750,000 pets euthanised at the outbreak of the Second World War because of concerns over food shortages.

PlaitBilledDuckyPuss · 02/03/2023 16:58

ReliantRobyn · 02/03/2023 16:54

Everyone on here saying they wouldn't kill their cat , wouldn't have had a choice if it was mandated. The cats would have been disposed of whatever their felines about it so rather an irrelevant question.

How, though? Would someone force entry to your house and fight you, if necessary, to get a lethal syringe into your cat?

It's worth adding that most cats would make it very difficult to do this anyway - trying to get hold of a cat that doesn't want to be got hold of is nigh on impossible.

BigMommafromBolton · 02/03/2023 16:58

Never, never, never. I would have hidden them, stocked up on pet food, and barricaded the house. They would have had to kill me first.

MysteryBelle · 02/03/2023 16:59

ReliantRobyn · 02/03/2023 16:57

Hi. This is a thread about cats. Cats. You could start a looney thread yourself if you want though?

Show quote history

No, it’s about compliance, no matter what, even if it’s wrong or based in falsehood, to corrupt governments. That’s what this thread is about.

User473831 · 02/03/2023 17:00

Do I have to do with with my bare hands?

it would also depend on which pet, chickens yes, cat probably, ponies maybe, dog, no way,

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 02/03/2023 17:01

MysteryBelle · 02/03/2023 16:54

I knew lefties would pull their tricks out. Conservatives are not very conservative anymore, they’ve been taken over by the left like everything else. Most of them pander to the left because they know who really holds the power. We all know this. Our Republicans (conservatives) in USA have been taken over by the Democrats. There are only a few brave ones and I suspect same is true in the UK.

It is a fact here in the USA that the Democrats pretend to be the caring party but that is just a front to destroy everything they can and enrich themselves along with their buddies who infiltrated our own party. Stupid Biden who Obama foisted upon us left billions in weapons and military equipment in Afghanistan, the left are never held to account yet pin their crimes on others, Biden has done so many destructive things, the list is so long there’s no room. Crazy inflation, still everybody acts like that’s fine.

Show quote history

Tricks like getting trounced in the general election by a populist right wing party and not being currently in power in the country this thread is about? I'll give you a clue, it isn't the USA.

ReliantRobyn · 02/03/2023 17:03

MysteryBelle · 02/03/2023 16:59

No, it’s about compliance, no matter what, even if it’s wrong or based in falsehood, to corrupt governments. That’s what this thread is about.

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What's your favourite cat please ? Please keep on topic.

Trinity65 · 02/03/2023 17:03

GloomyDarkness · 02/03/2023 16:11

I wonder why there is not a single mention of this in the James Heriot books.

He was working in the Yorkshire country side.

I think it was mainly London or other urban centers I think where most pets were killed - one with dense populations likely to be bombed with large populations of working poor already struggling with poverty and food scarcity.

The countryside where it was suggested initially pets should be evacuated to and where we did evacuate large number of children to often had greater access to additional food than urban populations and generally fared slightly better.

Yes
Grandad lived in London.

LuciferRising · 02/03/2023 17:05

Sparklfairy · 02/03/2023 16:36

So weird that you'd jump straight to killing them rather than doing that as a last resort tbh Hmm You can keep cats indoors! Humans had lockdowns, just include the cats.

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It's hugely scary people do what they are told to do without any thought. Sometimes wonder whether the antinatalists have it right. World would be a better place.

Squirrelsnut · 02/03/2023 17:09

No way Jose.

NotTerfNorCis · 02/03/2023 17:11

Mumsnet was the absolute worst place for insisting people comply no matter their circumstances

No one asked about killing pets though. Much different from staying indoors, wearing masks and getting vaccinated.

haveyoutriedturningitoffandthenonagain · 02/03/2023 17:13

I wouldn't have to kill them though? So no.
I'd say I'd lock them out when the people came to get them but my cat's an idiot and he'd just be meowing at the door to be let back in.

Would I risk my life to save my cat? No.

Would I protest this? Yes. But ultimately I'd have to let it happen.

Mass uprising? All the people who would do that protested at the time. There were lots, but not sure what difference it made.

IDontWantToBeAPie · 02/03/2023 17:15

No I'd March on parliament

UserID59272626 · 02/03/2023 17:16

itendswithus · 02/03/2023 12:32

You'd have to kill me before I'd let anyone kill one on my animals!!

This

alllllie · 02/03/2023 17:16

No one asked about killing pets though. Much different from staying indoors, wearing masks and getting vaccinated.

Umm, we were forced asked to do a lot more than that. Self-employed made to stop working, people like my partner made to lose 20% of his pay (plus overtime and bonuses), kids had to go without education for months, families kept apart, people couldn't go to funerals or hold their loved ones... and anyone who questioned any of this was demonised. Did any of that shit work?

We had a pandemic plan and we ripped it up and did insane things that should never, never have happened.

But yeah, 'just stay home and watch Netflix, durrrr, it's not hard!'

Silverbook · 02/03/2023 17:17

Absolutely not. Who on earth would do that?!

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 02/03/2023 17:19

Mass uprising? All the people who would do that protested at the time. There were lots, but not sure what difference it made.

I think most people's noncompliance was done quietly. Once we exempted ourselves, nobody in my circle went on any protests. We just carried on seeing each other, doing childcare informally, having gatherings and the like, and making no fuss whatsoever about it when the people around us had parties, ran businesses illegally etc.

Wtfwhy · 02/03/2023 17:20

No. There’s no way.

How exactly did they think they were going to actually do this? They would have been encouraging people mixing just to get cat put down. Go stand in a long queue with your cat during a virus you’ve been told to stay home because of. Yeah that will be a good idea 👍🏻

ArianahX · 02/03/2023 17:20

My cat is an indoor cat anyway. But if anyone tried to kill her they'd have get past me first and I mean that. She's my little mate.

Trainham · 02/03/2023 17:22

But I bet the Downing st cat would have escaped on the grounds he needed to test his vision or being a national treasure orr required to test the wine or some other plausible excuse.

BebbanburgIsMine · 02/03/2023 17:26

Absolutely no chance!

My little cat is as loved as my children, who in turn adore him. I'd kill anyone who tried to harm him .

Would you kill your pet if ordered to by the gov't?
Hopikins · 02/03/2023 17:27

At the beginning of WW2, 750,000 pets were put down in one week. It followed a leaflet the government had issued. Sickening. Confirmation available on Google

MyGrandmaLizzie · 02/03/2023 17:34

Trainham · 02/03/2023 17:22

But I bet the Downing st cat would have escaped on the grounds he needed to test his vision or being a national treasure orr required to test the wine or some other plausible excuse.

^^this