To think cat owners are unreasonable for insisting that drivers MUST stop if they hit a cat?

[OtterlyMad]

Some of the people on my town’s Facebook page lose their minds when a cat is killed by a car. It’s automatically blamed on speeding (despite there being no evidence of this) and there are always lots of comments along the lines of how “disgusting” it is that the driver didn’t stop and make the owner aware.

None of them seem to appreciate that the driver might not have time to track down the owner. For example, perhaps they are on their way to work, a job interview, wedding, funeral, court, airport, hospital, dentist, client meeting, school pick up, etc. Plus cats can wander quite far and don’t all wear collars so tracking down the owner could be a real challenge - even more so if driver isn’t local to the area!

Obviously it’s devastating for people to lose their pet in this way (I’m an animal lover and have owned pets all my life so I get it) but surely this is a known risk of allowing cats to roam freely? And owners accept that risk because they feel it gives their cat a better quality of life, even if that means their life is shorter as a result?

My locals are now campaigning to make it law that drivers who hit a cat must not only stop and find the owner, but also HAND OVER THEIR CONTACT DETAILS. To do what with?! So the cat’s owner can give the driver grief and/or demand compensation they’re not entitled to???

Am I the only one thinking this is ludicrous?

You are being unreasonable - drivers should be required to stop, track down the owner of the cat and hand over their contact details.

You are not being unreasonable - injury/death by vehicle is a sad but accepted risk of cats having the right to roam so drivers should not be required to stop.

It's the same intention. I can't think of any situation where killing a cat isn't cruel. Pest controllers don't tend to kill cats en masse.

Vets put down cats don’t they? That’s not cruelty. No person can lawfully intentionally kill another person, except in genuine self-defence.

Why is killing a cat different to killing a rat or a mouse? Pest controllers kill many rats and mice.

I agree with you. Suffering is suffering.

If I hit and injured any animal, I’d stop. I’m not sure how you could go on with your day not knowing if they were lying in pain, slowly dying.

I question the morals of those who wouldn’t.

There was a famous case in Canada a few years ago where a woman stopped her car in a highway lane to let a duck family go by. Three motorcyclists couldn’t stop their bikes, got in a pile up and died. She was convicted of criminal negligence causing death.

I'd have to stop to check it's condition anyway. If it was wearing a collar I'd contact the owner, if it wasn't I'd take it to a vet to be scanned.

I like animals.

I don't think it should be law, just common decency

You know how to avoid this, right?

Dont let your animal roam unattended.

Your anger is extremely misplaced. If you love your pet, care for them properly and don’t let them wander only to blame others if accidents happen

Obviously there are situations where it won't be safe to stop.

But if it is, it takes a dickhead of the highest order to hit an animal and just drive off without any attempt to help it.

I think a compromise position probably exists. I don’t think there should be any necessity to leave your contact details. However your list of important reasons why someone couldn’t stop is completely batshit. We don’t avoid having traffic laws because someone might be on an important journey. How many times in an ordinary person’s life would they be risking contempt of court FFS?

It has been an eye opening discussion for me however. I’ve been driving for almost 40 years and not only have I never hit a cat, I don’t think I’ve seen a dead cat on the side of the road. I’ve seen lots of squashed native animals but not cats. I live in Australia where there is far less tolerance of cats roaming and in some areas it’s illegal overnight. Microchips are compulsory here too. I have two much loved indoor cats who live a very happy life. The possums and lizards who live in our backyard also live safely as a result. Cockroaches and indoor spiders take their chances.

If I ever hit an animal I would stop unless I was seriously endangering myself to do so.

This link explains perfectly well what should be done if you unfortunately hit someone's beloved cat
https://www.catsmatter.org/if-you-hit-a-cat

Why are you comparing a cat with a child?

Your anger is extremely misplaced. If you love your pet, care for them properly and don’t let them wander only to blame others if accidents happen

It isn't anger, it's disgust.
Someone that's hit someone's cat and can't even stop to take it a vet or knock a door or two?
Absolute cunts of the highest order that shouldn't be welcomed in a decent society.
I fact they should be *tickled with vigour with soft fluffy feather dusters

It's not cruelty, it's euthansia, mostly.

Cats are not disease-spreading pests, unlike mice and rats. Are you really that ill-informed?!

Because both of them are living beings who experience pain.

Not blaming people for accidentally hitting a cat, but anyone that drives off, unless it’s a dire emergency or seriously not safe to stop, is the absolute scourge of the earth and should have any human privileges revoked, because it’s not the behaviour of a decent one.

In fairness, it's often the cat's fault, not the driver's.

But it is the drivers fault for not stopping and seeing if they can help the cat (if possible), or at least reporting to someone that they have hit a cat.

Oh absolutely!

I really don’t see what disease spreading has to do with the definition of ‘murder’ for rats and mice v cats.

Eh??

People just drive like idiots sometimes
Tonight someone has hit and killed 3 baby ducklings flying down the road which gets used as a racetrack
Yes sometimes it can't be avoided but it's a 20mph road and now the mother duck is by the side of the road and won't leave

Not batshit at all. From the voting, also not a minority view at all.
For many people (and many children), a pet is a precious member of their family. If you hit a cat and don’t stop if you safely can, that is potentially very cruel and very inconsiderate.

I'm a cat owner and I hit a cat once, or rather it came out of nowhere in front of me and I didn't have time to stop.

It was night time, it ran off, there were no houses where I ran over it and I wasn't on social media.

Owners whose cat has been hit don't always know the circumstances. If any of mine were killed I wouldn't automatically blame the driver and post on social media about it.