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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:
ImJustMadAboutSaffron · 03/03/2023 08:13

@Alexandra2001 Supporting the measures is not the same as having to go along with them because there was no option. I didn't meet friends, go shopping, go in pubs, bars, restaurants, theatres or to concerts or the cinema because they were closed. Not because I thought arses like Matt Hancock were right.

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 03/03/2023 08:23

Yes, I don't agree with that poster's take in general but there's no getting round the fact that we wouldn't have had lockdowns had enough of the public not actively wanted them. Johnson didn't want to do it. That was abundantly obvious.

Murraydeservedit · 03/03/2023 08:23

I was thinking about this thread when I couldn’t sleep last night.

I actually think a lot of people were so paralysed by fear of covid that they would have had their pets PTS, no matter how much they say they love them/they would rather die.

I also think that covid made some people so irrational that they would have killed their pets themselves or killed other peoples pets.

The language used by some on here was just unbelievable. Don’t forget, there were people who wanted the army on the streets. They were calling for martial law! There were threads asking if they should call the police on their neighbours.

The fear completely changed some people and it was bizarre and funny at best and horrifying at worst to see.

I posted upthread about my next door neighbour at the time, a solicitor, a professional, middle aged woman who had always been entirely sensible and quite lovely, who ripped a fence post out of the ground like the Hulk and started using it like a battering ram on my door while screaming that I would kill us all. This was because she had seen someone enter my house during lockdown. It was my midwife.

There was no calming her. And when the police arrived, who was questioned? Not the woman ramming my front door, damaging my property and screaming blue murder - it was me and the midwife! Absolutely crazy.

That woman had been driven crazy by the thought that covid would kill her if she didn’t stick to the rules. She had a dog that she doted on and treated like a child, but honestly, I think fear would have made her get rid of it in an instant.

MarshaBradyo · 03/03/2023 08:25

BashirWithTheGoodBeard · 03/03/2023 08:23

Yes, I don't agree with that poster's take in general but there's no getting round the fact that we wouldn't have had lockdowns had enough of the public not actively wanted them. Johnson didn't want to do it. That was abundantly obvious.

Mn is a pretty good record of public opinion at the time. People demand further action.

theleafandnotthetree · 03/03/2023 08:29

Murraydeservedit · 03/03/2023 08:23

I was thinking about this thread when I couldn’t sleep last night.

I actually think a lot of people were so paralysed by fear of covid that they would have had their pets PTS, no matter how much they say they love them/they would rather die.

I also think that covid made some people so irrational that they would have killed their pets themselves or killed other peoples pets.

The language used by some on here was just unbelievable. Don’t forget, there were people who wanted the army on the streets. They were calling for martial law! There were threads asking if they should call the police on their neighbours.

The fear completely changed some people and it was bizarre and funny at best and horrifying at worst to see.

I posted upthread about my next door neighbour at the time, a solicitor, a professional, middle aged woman who had always been entirely sensible and quite lovely, who ripped a fence post out of the ground like the Hulk and started using it like a battering ram on my door while screaming that I would kill us all. This was because she had seen someone enter my house during lockdown. It was my midwife.

There was no calming her. And when the police arrived, who was questioned? Not the woman ramming my front door, damaging my property and screaming blue murder - it was me and the midwife! Absolutely crazy.

That woman had been driven crazy by the thought that covid would kill her if she didn’t stick to the rules. She had a dog that she doted on and treated like a child, but honestly, I think fear would have made her get rid of it in an instant.

Sweet Jesus, that is deranged....how are relations between you since? The kind of thing you can't unsee....

GPTec1 · 03/03/2023 08:31

MarshaBradyo · 03/03/2023 08:25

Mn is a pretty good record of public opinion at the time. People demand further action.

Show quote history

I think this is true of the weeks leading up to the March LD, i know on here and in my circle, people couldn't believe the UK was sooooo slow.

But i do not recall people wanting more LD restrictions, if anything, most not all didn't understand some of the stupid rules i.e not being allowed to sit on a bench when out of breath.

Its easy to be wise after the event but there was no vaccine and no effective treatments.

But by the 2nd and 3rd LD's people ignored them, roads around here were busy as before.

Mn cannot be a left wing echo chamber one minute but a good gauge of public opinion the next.

MarshaBradyo · 03/03/2023 08:34

GPTec1 · 03/03/2023 08:31

I think this is true of the weeks leading up to the March LD, i know on here and in my circle, people couldn't believe the UK was sooooo slow.

But i do not recall people wanting more LD restrictions, if anything, most not all didn't understand some of the stupid rules i.e not being allowed to sit on a bench when out of breath.

Its easy to be wise after the event but there was no vaccine and no effective treatments.

But by the 2nd and 3rd LD's people ignored them, roads around here were busy as before.

Mn cannot be a left wing echo chamber one minute but a good gauge of public opinion the next.

Show quote history

It’s a good record of the time but no it’s not all public opinion just some of it.

Yes there were loads of threads showing how people demanded further action. Many posters have said the same re what happened if you thought it a bad idea - it didn’t go down well.

So no not wise after the event. Many tried at the time.

GPTec1 · 03/03/2023 08:37

Different recollections, sure some shouting loud on SM but generally speaking, after 1st LD, it was more about timing then having more restrictions.

but i'm more rural, so i accept my experience around here is different then yours, we had very low infection rates.

Murraydeservedit · 03/03/2023 08:39

theleafandnotthetree · 03/03/2023 08:29

Sweet Jesus, that is deranged....how are relations between you since? The kind of thing you can't unsee....

Show quote history

Thankfully we were just renting at that point, we moved a few months later.

But we were enemy number one for a while, because I had the worlds shittiest pregnancy so my midwife was round every two weeks and I was up and down to the hospital weekly - it made us unclean! Like I was going to bring back the plague from the maternity unit and infect the whole area. (I used to have a couple of nosey sods shouting out and asking why I was going out in the car again - “to the hospital, I’m pregnant and not very well” which is how they knew).

All that curtain twitching, people had nothing better to do than watch as I went in and out and wonder why we were getting a regular visitor to the door.

But that’s what fear can do. So many people were plunged into mental health crisis.

silverbubbles · 03/03/2023 08:41

JackiePlace · 02/03/2023 19:16

Livestock, not pets.
There's a huge difference. Livestock is basically raised to be killed, so as long as the farmer is compensated he's ok.

Show quote history

You are clearly have no proper understanding of farming or the relationship that many farmers have with their livestock! Firstly to even think that for a farmer to watch all his healthy livestock shot and just burnt feels 'OK' because he has received some level of compensation is quite simply moronic and secondly many of the animal slaughtered were very precious breeding stock which will be their absolute pride and joy and in many cases generations of work and progress.

PolkaDotMankini · 03/03/2023 08:58

I would if it had been zombie apocalypse disease, Walking Dead style. Not for flu.

MarshaBradyo · 03/03/2023 08:59

GPTec1 · 03/03/2023 08:37

Different recollections, sure some shouting loud on SM but generally speaking, after 1st LD, it was more about timing then having more restrictions.

but i'm more rural, so i accept my experience around here is different then yours, we had very low infection rates.

I’m not really talking about rl as people mostly complied from what I saw although school closures probably got the most comments from other parents.

On mn though if anyone asks why and how was the Covid campaign so successful and why did so many accept extreme measures it’s a good place to look.

WilmaFlintstone1 · 03/03/2023 09:52

I complied with the lockdown measures but would not have complied with this. My autistic son would have committed suicide if they’d removed his beloved cats from the home. We only have two but they are an important part of the family.

GloomyDarkness · 03/03/2023 10:02

I think it was a weird kind of 'group think'. I don't understand what drives it, but it was similar with the death of Princess Diana. All of a sudden, everyone was expected to feel and do certain things, and anyone who didn't comply was vilified. I just think there's a peculiar herd mentality that comes into play.

My family mostly eye rolled but DH - more anti monarchy than me - queue and signed a book of condolence. He tells the kids now how unreasonable people wanted the monarch's standard at half mast - and I'm sat there think yea mate you were one of them - I probably shouldn't be surprised MIL is similar with rewriting history and both have similar poor memories.

I’m not really talking about rl as people mostly complied from what I saw although school closures probably got the most comments from other parents.

I was frustated with how frequently DC secondary was shut down or went on-line though understood but our parenst were calling for it to be happening more than it did - they are now moaning about teacher strikes. I'm worried with two kids in exam years about them but I'm also worried about the kids not having subject teachers or even teachers even in exam years - they don't want to hear that though.

Skydaze · 03/03/2023 10:34

Don't quite get the outrage about an idea that was considered and discarded, but anyhoo...

As a dog owner the council can order my dog to be destroyed if she mauls other people's pets or attacks someone. Would I comply with this? Absolutely. Would it be heartbreaking? Absolutely. But I accept she is an animal who could pose a serious danger to others. It's my job to train her, keep her under control, to love and protect her, and to ensure she doesn't endanger other animals or people. So yes, the council can order her put down if she becomes dangerous, and that would be the right thing to do.

Pootles34 · 03/03/2023 10:52

Those saying it's just livestock not pets being killed on government orders, you are incorrect. My friends cat had caught TB from a vole, and had to have it put down. It was fine and well in itself, but the risk of infection means it must be destroyed, exactly the same as a cow.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/03/2023 10:57

All the people saying absolutely not: would you say the same if presented with absolutely irrefutable evidence that the alternative would be the deaths of, potentially, hundreds or thousands of people?

Admittedly it didn't apply to killing pets, but actually we were told any number of things were disallowed on pain of killing thousands of people, many of which turned out to be completely unjustifiable - such was the mania at the time

So to answer your question, no I still wouldn't have had my pets killed, but I'd have kept them inside at all times to avoid any risk

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 11:04

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/03/2023 10:57

All the people saying absolutely not: would you say the same if presented with absolutely irrefutable evidence that the alternative would be the deaths of, potentially, hundreds or thousands of people?

Admittedly it didn't apply to killing pets, but actually we were told any number of things were disallowed on pain of killing thousands of people, many of which turned out to be completely unjustifiable - such was the mania at the time

So to answer your question, no I still wouldn't have had my pets killed, but I'd have kept them inside at all times to avoid any risk

Absolutely. What was the slogan next to someone in an oxygen mask? Try telling her you never bend the rules? Yeah, sitting on a park bench did that! That kind of crap killed any trust I had in those swines.

Cornettoninja · 03/03/2023 11:04

Pootles34 · 03/03/2023 10:52

Those saying it's just livestock not pets being killed on government orders, you are incorrect. My friends cat had caught TB from a vole, and had to have it put down. It was fine and well in itself, but the risk of infection means it must be destroyed, exactly the same as a cow.

Poor thing.

But the fact remains, if you choose to share your home with an animal then you have to accept every responsibility that comes with that. Including infection control in varying degrees.

Birdsbirdsbirds · 03/03/2023 12:21

Cornettoninja · 03/03/2023 11:04

Poor thing.

But the fact remains, if you choose to share your home with an animal then you have to accept every responsibility that comes with that. Including infection control in varying degrees.

Show quote history

Infection control would have been keeping them in, like for humans, not killing them.

I know a lot of people would happily have extinguished germy children at the time for the sake of the elderly community, so a lot of people would have happily killed their cats, but it doesn't make it any less bat shit.

I didn't want lockdown, didn't support the rules and only didn't do what I couldn't physically do, ie go shopping when they were closed. I would have never made my child wear a mask to nursery and I wouldn't have killed my cat. Totally unreasonable, and as we now know, completely pointless. I was never scared of it. There is no point being scared of it.

KarmaStar · 03/03/2023 12:45

Absolutely,categorically no.

thing47 · 03/03/2023 13:42

If I was presented with irrefutable, scientific evidence that my cats or dog could catch Covid and then transmit it to humans, I might, reluctantly, have agreed to have them PTS. On the word of a government minister with no scientific background or training, not a chance.

Everanewbie · 03/03/2023 13:44

thing47 · 03/03/2023 13:42

If I was presented with irrefutable, scientific evidence that my cats or dog could catch Covid and then transmit it to humans, I might, reluctantly, have agreed to have them PTS. On the word of a government minister with no scientific background or training, not a chance.

Even if they could, a mild cold that the vast majority of people experience with covid isn't something worth killing an otherwise healthy and loved pet over.

pussycatinfluffyslippers · 03/03/2023 14:33

No.

Mine are indoor only. They can only catch what I bring in.

I would have killed Boris with a spoon before anyone got near my cats.

Cornettoninja · 03/03/2023 14:47

Birdsbirdsbirds · 03/03/2023 12:21

Infection control would have been keeping them in, like for humans, not killing them.

I know a lot of people would happily have extinguished germy children at the time for the sake of the elderly community, so a lot of people would have happily killed their cats, but it doesn't make it any less bat shit.

I didn't want lockdown, didn't support the rules and only didn't do what I couldn't physically do, ie go shopping when they were closed. I would have never made my child wear a mask to nursery and I wouldn't have killed my cat. Totally unreasonable, and as we now know, completely pointless. I was never scared of it. There is no point being scared of it.

Show quote history

You literally quoted me posted ‘to varying degrees’ which would include keeping animals indoors like chickens with bird flu at the moment.

The rest of your post is just you going off on one over irrelevant fantasy.