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.

I'm so sorry that other road users are at risk from people like you if you think jacknifing a caravan and causing an accident is a safe alternative to hitting a cat.

Well yes, but there are plenty of other higher speed roads where it might not be safe to stop.

Cats also move so fast, they could duck under your wheels and not allow you time to stop, even on a lower speed road. I've seen a very near miss in this circumstance.

That wasn’t my intention. I don’t hate cats and I’ve never actually hit one so I’ve got no real-life experience of such a scenario. But I have to be honest when I say that I wouldn’t “go to the ends of the earth” to track down a dead cat’s owner. If circumstances allowed, I would take an injured cat to a vet. But I wouldn’t risk knocking on strangers’ doors or risk missing something important like a flight or a job interview. I do think that it’s unreasonable for cat owners to have that expectation.

Can I ask what was your intention for starting this thread? Surely you knew you would whip up nasty comments on one side of the argument and on the other distress and annoy pet owners?

You encouraged people to gleefully say they would leave pet cats dying at the side of the road. It really does speak to your character.

it just seems such an odd thread for a rational, empathetic person to start. Have you thought through your motives here?

Surely you knew you would whip up nasty comments on one side of the argument

I think it speaks volumes that you've interpreted things in this way. All the vitriolic abuse has actually come from cat owners.

I love cats.
If I accidentally hit one I’m not going to stop and faff around finding the owner/ taking it to a vet, anymore than if I accidentally hit a wild animal.

Fuck the cat owners who allow their animals to defecate in my flower beds, mutilate the wild birds I feed, and wake me at all hours of the night with their yowling.
I would never swerve to avoid one, or pick it up if I did hit one. If you are negligent enough to allow your animal to wander the streets unchecked, you have to deal with the consequences.

This thread has made me less likely to try to contact the owner.

Obviously if the cat is injured, I will try to help.

However, with a dead cat - no, for a cat I don't know. It's not going to help the cat.

I'm sure that telling someone that their cat has died is awful. Why should I undertake that emotional labour for a stranger who allows their pet to roam? I mean, I have sympathy, and definite knowledge might help the owner a little, but it's a fair assumption that a cat who has gone missing has been run over.

Totally flabbergasted that half of posters agree with you. It is so depressing.

Io can't for the life of me imagine leaving any creatures with injury and so in potential agony and distressed alone. Even if very obviously dead, what a callous thing to do.

My OH hit a neighbour's car a whilst ago. The cat had hidden under the car and was hit as started of. The cat was in a very bad shape and I usually didn't move and so look dead. It was a Sunday evening. Still we took it to the emergency vet. The vet said it's chances of survival was very low and it was up to us to decide to put to sleep. We decided to give a chance overnight....and there then was one more night. We found the owner and we agreed to go 50/50 with the bill for the two days.

Well against all odds the cat survived and is doing well. The owner is so so grateful.

A cat feels pain and fear as we do. How disgusting to just leave it there without checking.

The nasty comments have come almost entirely from the cat owners.

And not one single person has ‘gleefully’ said anything about leaving a cat to die at the side of the road.

This thread has been one of the most eye opening things I’ve read on MN. I actually love animals and I’d be devastated to run over one. I’m not sure what I’d do with an injured cat because I don’t have a way of transporting one safely in my car - I’d probably phone a vet. But to suggest anyone needs to leave their details or ‘make amends’ for running over a cat is ridiculous. I’m honestly more shocked about the comparison of cats to small children on this thread than I am that someone wouldn’t stop if they’d run over an animal.

And lastly - the advice to stop if you’ve run over livestock isn’t because they literally want you to stop your vehicle. It’s because they assume the driver will need to make a phone call and not a single organisation is going to recommend anyone do that while their car is moving- even if hands free.

@SwingTheMonkey
You don’t have to even scroll far to see how nasty the cat hating commenters are.

Surely you could say that about half the threads on AIBU? Not my fault that people aren’t capable of intelligent debate on the internet - and it should be noted there are nasty comments from both sides.

My motive was to get a sanity check because I think the campaign on my town’s Facebook group is utterly absurd, and yet these people continue to spout their vitriol almost completely unchallenged (presumably because people are too scared to stand up to them - me included).

I’m actually quite surprised by the result of the poll - pretty much 50/50 - so not as clear-cut as I would have thought.

Agreed. Some of the commenters on here are thoroughly unpleasant and have relished the opportunity to let us know how they would not stop for a cat.
The thread is awful.

That ‘fuck the cat owners’ past was in direct response to an extreme post from a cat owner very early on in the thread who, I believe, called people ‘cunts’.

Im looking at this objectively. I’m neither a cat owner, nor a hater. I’d try my best to help an injured cat. But the utter vitriol on this thread has come from the cat owners.

Local Facebook groups tend to attract the absurd, anyone with a social media account is aware of this. I’m surprised anyone would need that validating by mumsnet.

It’s actually something I’ve wondered too- my local facebook group is the same about hedgehogs etc that have been run over.

This thread has attracted more than its fair share of the absurd so it’s obviously fair to wonder if one is being unreasonable because many seem to think so.

That ‘fuck the cat owners’ past was in direct response to an extreme post from a cat owner very early on in the thread who, I believe, called people ‘cunts’.

Is there a better name for someone that would gleefully run over another sentient creature without so much as a backward glance ?

Well your point is kind of moot since the result of the poll is 50/50, I haven’t been “validated” at all - apparently almost half of MN agree with the absurd campaign!

gleefully
/ˈɡliːfʊli,ˈɡliːfəli/

adverb

1. in an exuberantly or triumphantly joyful manner.

Not a single person on this thread has expressed the above when they have accidently hit a cat.

To think cat owners are unreasonable for insisting that drivers MUST stop if they hit a cat?
They’re are likely in agreement with the thread title, not the actual question buried in a long op, that isn’t referenced in the poll either.
The majority of answers would validate that.

Why do you all keep saying that people are ‘gleefully’ admitting to running over people’s beloved pets?

It’s disingenuous, as you well know.

A very, very small number of people on here have said anything directly unkind about running over animals. A much bigger number of cat owners have spouted vitriol and what can only be described as bizarre and slightly unhinged views about people whose priority isn’t your pet.

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 was listed in the poll?

Surely people read an op before commenting? Don’t they?!

I’ve killed quite a few small animals over the years but not once with glee. Who are all these sickos that are joyfully running over cats? I haven’t seen any on this thread. If you drive rurally a lot you are occasionally going to kill something, shit happens.

I had a cat that was killed on a nearby road , I spent a week looking for it until someone told me it had been run over, I honestly wouldn’t have expected someone to stop as it’s such a busy road and I believe it’s cruel to keep cats indoors full time . Another time when on holiday a cat ran across the road and our car killed it , we stopped and put the cat outside the nearest house as it had no collar on and no way of finding out who the owner was ( this was before microchips we’re commonplace) there was nothing else we could have done 🥲

implied
/ɪmˈplʌɪd/

adjective

1. suggested but not directly expressed; implicit.