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

[JackiePlace]

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/

Fuck no. Reminiscent of that poor old lady who had two pet sheep that she kept in her house and garden and during foot and mouth, they bashed down her door and took them from her. I'd have shot them. The people. Not the sheep.

My cats are indoor cats so I would have been fairly confident that they did not have Covid. The most I would have done is confine them to one room if a member of the household got covid for their own wellbeing.

I can't imagine a situation in which I would leave or kill my pets. Re: the hypothetical baby, I cannot envision a situation where it would be safe to enter a building to rescue a stranger's baby but not safe to rescue my pets. I'd rescue them all, though I'd start with the baby as my animals are more capable of leaving a burning building of their own accord than a human baby.

‘Mumsnet poster in ‘would save her loved ones over a stranger!’ shocker’. Yeah, I would do the same. You are neither expected nor required to like it.

These threads always contain tedious weirdos who scramble to invent scenarios in which you’re expected to admit you’d leave a pet (or elderly relative, also a favourite to sacrifice) to die, or face opprobrium and the predictable ‘what a sad/pitiable life!’ opining. Oh well, by all means seethe about it.

Well, my google search history now has 'captive bolt gun cats' in it. They look too big to be used on cats, plus you would have to keep the cat still (hahahahha!) to make sure you get the right spot.

Given he pissed on my brand new pjs whilst they were outside the bathroom and I was having a bath before snuggling in to them I might kill him even if they don’t ask.

Some of these posts are completely crazy. Pets valued as much as your own children? Commit suicide if you had to have a pet PTS?

I love animals but that is utter madness.

Don't be so dismissive. It is only 'utter madness' to you. I would not swap my dogs for a million pounds..they have helped me through such darkness in my life, and their loyalty is top notch. I do love them almost as much as my children.

I grew up on a farm. I have not eaten meat for over 30 years. I realised from a very young age that animals are sentient beings and do feel pain. Just because they don't have as much 'power' doesn't mean they should be less valued, or should be treated less favourably.

Look how those who don't fit the mould are treated in society; they are not treated fairly. Whether that be unmarried mothers, gay people, non Caucasians, people with mental illnesses...you get my drift.

Pets have given lonely people something to focus on. This is so much the case for my dear mum, now that dad has sadly passed away. I do believe that her pet (as well as us) is what has kept her going. So, if this makes me sound like 'utter madness', I'll gladly accept the label.

There never is a baby.

Just goaty posters salivating over a made up drama and frothing themselves into indignation. It comes up every six months or so.

Given he pissed on my brand new pjs whilst they were outside the bathroom and I was having a bath before snuggling in to them I might kill him even if they don’t ask.

😂

I wouldn't no but I wouldn't have any hard feelings against the government for calling it. They were in a very difficult position and did their best.

When I first read this,I initially thought 'No way would the majority of cat owners take that lying down',but then I remembered how readily so many people accepted all the restrictions placed on their lives by the lockdowns and thought 'Maybe they WOULD have just accepted it'.

Not just accepted it.. but probably dobbed in any pet owning neighbours too.

I must say I am reassured by the number of posters on here saying that they thought so many people over-reacted to Covid ('You sat down on a WALL?!'). As a previous poster said,huge numbers of psychological studies have proved that humans are basically prone to doing whatever someone in authority tells them to do.

I have a cat,but she's an indoor cat, due to the fact that I live near a busy road,plus,my last cat went out one day and never returned. But....I could guarantee that someone in the vicinity of where I live would have dobbed me in for having a cat,even though she would have posed no threat to them. The Covid lockdowns turned so many people into curtain -twitching snitches.

Latest WhatsApp release on the intent to frighten people which can’t be news to anyone but I wish more had thought about that at the time

Well, its news to me!!!! & i don't recall many people saying Govt messaging was just "scare stories" we still had around 5 to 600 deaths per day (or so we were told)
At the time, xmas 2020, with vaccines just around the corner, seems a very strange message to want to push?

Remember this an elected Govt minister, not a newspaper or Richard Tice.

& even the sceptics were in full praise of people like Whitty, i know you were Marsha.

These people should be facing criminal charges if they locked down the country for no good reason.

The release of these Whatsapp messages brings into question everything the Govt did and more importantly said.

"I did the right thing. They should have to as well...."

I had to laugh when they had to come up with more memorable names to get people to get people to keep focusing.
Omicron, then later Kraken.....

Whitty was good but I thought he got it wrong with the omicron what we know is all bad statement.

That cost a lot economically and there was a lot of fear stoked unnecessarily.

He was usually very good with words though.

Spi B and SAGE used behavioural experts who used fear based messages. They were good at it. Even though I could see why it worked it got to me at times - at the beginning for instance.

But once I could see how it was a behaviour change campaign like any other. A really good one at that I could disengage more.

Covid didn’t worry me as much as the reaction to it.

The fear based tactic had downsides too as did the overall approach. They just weren’t highlighted at all. You can’t tell everyone the economic cost and actual damage of lockdown each day and expect compliance. There’s only one way and that is to massively increase risk and ignore the rest.

Have a read of this.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882722/25-options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf

20th March 2020, ie the Friday before lockdown was announced. Bottom of page 1 says 'a substantial number of people do not still feel sufficiently threatened: it could be that they are reassured by the low death rate in their demographic group... the perceived level of personal threat needs to be increased among those who are complacent.'

People accurately appraising themselves as low risk was seen as a problem that needed to be solved.

Sorry it's 22nd March, that's the Sunday before lockdown was announced on Monday 23rd.

No and anyone who says yes needs to get some backbone..This is from a dog person too - I can't stand cats and would quite happily see them become extinct by stopping breeding!

Covid, no. Something like Ebola or the plague, yes.

My reaction now is absolutely no way of course not

but at the height of fears around covid the government back this order with science I suspect the majority of us would

push comes to shove my son is more important than my totally adored, loved spoilt fluffy baby

Surely you'd just keep them indoors rather than kill them? And would anyone really believe any government if they said a particular animal carried Ebola for example?

And would anyone really believe any government if they said a particular animal carried Ebola for example?

dunno, if my local hospital had people presenting with patients bleeding out of every orifice then I think I’d be inclined to listen to the scientific conclusions advising government given it’s not an area I have any expertise to make an informed decision.