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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:
LimeCheesecake · 02/03/2023 12:48

@JazbayGrapes - I do know a couple who after their last pet died (a dog) they said they had decided not to get another one as they didn’t think it was environmentally justified to keep non-working animals anymore.

whumpthereitis · 02/03/2023 12:49

On the occasions I needed to use one, I took my cat with me into a bomb shelter. I wasn’t the only one. I would absolutely not have complied with a kill order.

Eranzer · 02/03/2023 12:49

I guarantee fucking hundreds would have done it.
They'd feel properly shitty when they realised they'd had 18 jabs, wore a hazmat suit to Tesco for 2 years and killed their cat for a virus we're now, rightfully, just living with.

custardbear · 02/03/2023 12:49

No way

But there would have been different steps anyway, no one would agree to it and it would be impossible to police. Lockdown of pets would have been more likely

BritWifeInUSA · 02/03/2023 12:50

I’d kill the government first. That’s the whole reason we have the 2nd amendment in the US: to protect us from tyranny.

Rebel2 · 02/03/2023 12:50

Absolutely not and I'm immunocompromised and still wearing a mask
When I had a firework thrown in the house I grabbed nothing except my cat

ConcordeOoter · 02/03/2023 12:51

No.

I'm not so sure about massive uprising. It didn't lead to an uprising when the same thing was actually done during the war.

Besides which in the last few years, intentionally generated fear has motivated people to cross so many boundaries, abandon, hurt and disown friends and family so easily, and let go of so many principles that I could believe they would do anything if the government got the right article in the news.

Trisolaris · 02/03/2023 12:52

Mines an indoor cat. Not a chance. She got sick and had her leg amputated during the pandemic. One of the most frightening experiences of my life. The thought that I couldn’t have taken her because we would have been hiding her from the government. . . Awful

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.

5128gap · 02/03/2023 12:53

They would never have gone so far as to issue an order. It would be more likely to have been strong recommendation couched in terms of social responsibility, and pitting the life of a cat against that of vulnerable human beings. Sadly many people would have been so frightened they would have complied. Just like the many other ridiculous and inhumane things we did to 'stay safe'.

ComeTheFckOnBridget · 02/03/2023 12:53

No chance

PandasAreUseless · 02/03/2023 12:53

NOT FOR A MILLION POUNDS!
I'd take my dog on the run and we'd hide out in the forest together!

But then, I didn't accept or comply with a lot of what the government told us to do at the time anyway....

pompomdaisy · 02/03/2023 12:53

Nope. End off. I care very much for my family pets. I don't give a monkeys about some stranger 3 streets away.

amylou8 · 02/03/2023 12:53

I think being told to murder Tiddles would have pushed even the most devoted lockdown lover over the edge. I'm astounded what these idiots thought was in their remit, and even more astounded everyone went along with it. But I really hope that would have crossed the line.

Soubriquet · 02/03/2023 12:54

Not a fucking chance. My cat is an indoor cat anyway so I would double down with a fuck off

ArcticSkewer · 02/03/2023 12:55

If you went along with all the rest of the bullshit (suprise! even the government knew it was bullshit at the time) then, yeah, you would have done it, and you are a proper first class wanker.

ThreeblackCats · 02/03/2023 12:55

No way would I have killed my pets, it’s about as realistic as asking me to smother a newborn child or drown my own grandchildren!
I would have kept them indoors, no way could I kill my cats, especially nit my 20 year old cat that has outlived everyone else in my life and has been a constant for a third of my life.
pets are family.

PurplePineapple1 · 02/03/2023 12:56

There are some that would have done it. Killed Tiddles then stand banging pots on their doorstep and change their facebook photo frame to "I Sacrificed Mr Tiddles for the NHS".

Greenfairydust · 02/03/2023 12:56

No.

But I would happily help cull the ministers/MPs who come up with these ludicrous ideas and it probably would be more beneficial to the nation...

Igmum · 02/03/2023 12:57

WTF? No. Absolutely not. Would have kept them indoors, illicitly if necessary.

LoobyDop · 02/03/2023 12:58

Ultimately, I think I would have had to. Because the particularly horrible thing about this, alongside the fanaticism that the government’s lockdown mind games unleashed, is that no cat would ever have been safe outside again. There would still be lunatics now going round murdering them to “save lives”. And I am of the opinion that cats that are forced to stay indoors, particularly when they’ve previously been allowed out, are miserable and stressed and have no quality of life. So yes, I think in the end caring owners would have no choice. But there would be riots first.

CarPoor · 02/03/2023 12:58

Absolutely not

If it was a war and there was no food for them I might consider because I wouldn't want them to starve to death. Even in a natural disaster I would try to take them if there's time.

And tbh a disease so deadly that its worth killing my pet is probably not one I can survive anyway so I might as well enjoy my last few weeks with them.

StoppinBy · 02/03/2023 12:58

My dog would have been protected and just kept inside with runs out to the yard for toilet breaks to keep her as hidden as possible.

Not a chance we would have let her go.

PandasAreUseless · 02/03/2023 12:58

PurplePineapple1 · 02/03/2023 12:56

There are some that would have done it. Killed Tiddles then stand banging pots on their doorstep and change their facebook photo frame to "I Sacrificed Mr Tiddles for the NHS".

Oh Christ yes, the bloody Facebook frames! 🙈

FirstnameSuesecondnamePerb · 02/03/2023 12:59

Dunno.
I think that if there was a virus rampant that killed people and was spread like wildfire by domestic pets then people would.