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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:
TheFireflies · 02/03/2023 13:11

No way.

BishopRock · 02/03/2023 13:11

Serrassi · 02/03/2023 12:38

This question has already been answered by history.

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.

I was going to mention that. Most people these days, thankfully, don't have the same respect for authority that was more prevalent in the past.

Would I fuck have done anything to my precious boy.

Nor would I have snitched on my cat neighbours.

WonderingWanda · 02/03/2023 13:11

ChilliBandit · 02/03/2023 12:37

What an odd idea when cats can just be kept inside.

Was just coming to say this, surely a more rational approach would be to keep them indoors. Domesticated animals can be isolated /quarantined. It's when wildlife are spreading diseases you need to worry. Like a nastier variant of bird flu that could spread to humans. So no I would not unless the government could prove to me my animals tested positive to a disease which would infect me, kill me and could not be cured in either of us.

Sugarplumfairy65 · 02/03/2023 13:12

CoalCraft · 02/03/2023 12:36

Well it depends on the situation. In the scenario given, definitely not, but if it was a disease with high lethality in children and/or young adults that was highly contagious from cats, and if I thought there was a chance my cat was exposed (unlikely; she's indoor only), then yes.

Why only children and young adults ?

User8646382 · 02/03/2023 13:13

Is this what’s coming next then with the bird flu panic that the media are trying to stir up? Are we being prepared?

Murraydeservedit · 02/03/2023 13:13

When bird flu was first spoken about in the early 2000s, there were stories of people abandoning pet birds at vet clinics saying they were too scared to keep them. I vividly remember that in the news.

There were people who went crazy with fear over covid who absolutely would have.

And also people who didn’t have their own pets who would have kidnapped a neighbour's pet and done away with it.

After seeing the neighbour who I thought was nice screaming at me at the top of her lungs, and banging on my window with with a fence pole she had ripped from the garden like the incredible hulk because she saw a midwife enter my home during the first lockdown, nothing would surprise me anymore.

TankFlyBoss · 02/03/2023 13:13

Dudum · 02/03/2023 12:37

I wish they would put cats on lockdown.

🤣

WinterMusings · 02/03/2023 13:14

Serrassi · 02/03/2023 12:38

This question has already been answered by history.

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.

... history...

doesn't mean people would do the same these days!!

@JackiePlace

I was extremely covid compliant & beyond. I'm still very 'aware' and don't go to many places etc. I have underlyings and don't care what people think of how cautious I still am.

but no way would I have killed any pets on the Govt say so. Id have kept them inside & id have considered a jab if VETS etc had advised it was safe.

Mummys · 02/03/2023 13:15

Not a chance. I remember reading about the thousands of pets PTS at the start of WW2 for no reason on government advice, they could get fucked if they thought my 3 were going to be put down.

BeyondTheScope · 02/03/2023 13:15

Yes absolutely if it was the case that cats could have spread it then I would have done

Justmeandthedog1 · 02/03/2023 13:15

No way. They’d have to kill me to get to any pet of mine. And I’ve taken in any other animals and sheltered them.
We are ruled by morons.

Dotjones · 02/03/2023 13:16

Sugarplumfairy65 · 02/03/2023 13:12

Why only children and young adults ?

Show quote history

Interesting point, I'd come at it from the opposite angle, I wouldn't have my pet put down if it was something that caused a high lethality in children and/or young adults, but would consider it if it was dangerous for middle-aged and older people. Why? I'm in a position now where I don't have any children I personally particularly care about, but there are a few older people I do. I suspect the "CoalCraft" is just in the opposition to me, she has kids but doesn't give a fuck about old people. (Just a hunch, could be wrong.)

The cat idea is stupid because they can just be kept indoors. But yeah for dogs or animals that need to go outside, no problem here.

Murraydeservedit · 02/03/2023 13:16

And actually, my neighbour did lose her shit over my cat. She used to rant and rave that he could spread covid if we had it, it got on his fur and it rubbed against her.

He’s really bloody old and can’t and only went out in the garden when we did and stuck to us like glue. He wasn’t going near anyone.

ComeTheFckOnBridget · 02/03/2023 13:17

There's a difference between an enforced mass culland a request that pets be euthanized.

There's also a big difference between requesting pets euthanized effectively for their own good as much as humans and mandated to be killed because they might be passing on a deadly virus.

Historical context is also important - in the 1930s people knew the huge suffering that came with war (WW1 still a recent memory) and tens of thousands, if not millions, of people in the country would also have direct experience of dire poverty, so would know just how serious food shortages could become.

I don't think it was simply about greater respect for authority at all.

Murraydeservedit · 02/03/2023 13:17

*old and can’t see

iloveeverykindofcat · 02/03/2023 13:17

Nah. I have 2. Zara is the sweetest purest soul to ever grace this earth (albeit not the most intelligent, but hey, we can't all be a rocket scientist) and I would protect her with my life. As for Bibi....I'd like to see someone try and cull her tbh. She survived the streets, starvation, pregnancy, birth, and panleucopenia before she was 1. Pretty sure she could evade the government.

Camilliatile · 02/03/2023 13:19

Interesting how many people would flout a cat cull rule (rightly so!). Out of interest, were you all flouting the covid rules they did bring into place, out of interest, or sticking to them? Are only the rebels going to save their cats? Those of you who would save your cat - were you also the ones berating people for going for a walk more than a mile from home or going out to buy some milk?

whynotwhatknot · 02/03/2023 13:20

no i wouldnt have they would have had to arrest me

PurplePineapple1 · 02/03/2023 13:21

Camilliatile · 02/03/2023 13:19

Interesting how many people would flout a cat cull rule (rightly so!). Out of interest, were you all flouting the covid rules they did bring into place, out of interest, or sticking to them? Are only the rebels going to save their cats? Those of you who would save your cat - were you also the ones berating people for going for a walk more than a mile from home or going out to buy some milk?

Disagreed with all the ridiculous rules. Saw friends and family. Had personal appointments in my home. Mask exempt anyway. So nothing to do with being a hero for the cats. The entire thing was a shitstorm and a lesson in mass hysteria.

Thingshavegonetoshit · 02/03/2023 13:21

Absolutely not! The bastard authorities ordered something similar in China though.

hattie43 · 02/03/2023 13:22

Nope not ever . I'd hide them

Honoraryuce · 02/03/2023 13:22

Nope.

midsomermurderess · 02/03/2023 13:23

Not on your nelly. It clearly takes an enormous amount to get us Brits properly worked up, but had that ever been proposed can you imagine the numbers taking to the streets. Wasn’t something like that proposed for pets at the start if WW2? I can’t think why though.

Hobbesmanc · 02/03/2023 13:23

I sometimes reread the most dramatic COVID threads. Seems like another world. So I'm sure some people would have embraced the hysteria and supported it. There was a brief few days when we were advised pets could be carriers.

But in reality there was a national outcry about a pet llama called Geronimo that was euthanised because of TB. Can you imagine the outcry if men from the ministry started dragging peoples cats away

I can't even envisage anyone taking mine.

Spidey66 · 02/03/2023 13:23

Obviously if my dog attacked another person, I'd have no option though it would break my heart. But otherwise, no.