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 don't think I could not stop. I ran over a squirrel once. The car in front must have hit it because it couldn't move, and by the time I saw it I was virtually on top of it so couldn't do anything, but the look of terror in its poor little eyes in that split second. I felt awful. And that was just a squirrel.

Why should you stop for a dog and not a cat?

I don't let my cat out the front.
Why do people do this? So stupid.

As long as cat owners are prepared to keep their cats on a lead when they are outside of their garden I dont have an issue with it.

(I have cat)

I don’t particularly like cats. Possibly because I’m allergic to them.

I would be DEVESTATED if I hit and killed one by accident. Stopping would be the very least I could do.

Well technically you can sue the dogs owner for damages to your car for a start as well as reported a dog that’s out of its owners control since it’s ended up under your car.

big difference between and animal and a child ffs

If the traffic is looking bad, or there are know roadworks, then it is wise to leave early for an important journey...

But leaving early in case you hit an animal or person is batshit.

Because it's the law

If you can't do anything else then stop and move the cat out the road (if dead) to the pavement/verge/anywhere it won't be hit again

I collect for a group for deceased cats and take to the vet and it is much easier to collect an entire cat rather than me trying to get the remains of one that's been hit over and over
And also easier to scan for a chip

That sounds heartless, I love cats but I appreciate other people don't and the bare minimum is just to move it out the road

You stopped, you tried to find the cat, you did what you could. Thank you.

Yeah but nothings going to happen, is it? The police aren't going to pop over. It's only a dog. Drive on.

Because that's the law. Cats have the right to roam and don't have the same protection as dogs.

If you hit a dog and don't stop, you can be prosecuted.

Agreed and also saves other drivers the trauma of thinking they hit it!

Dogs and cats are regarded differently in law.

As traditionally working animals, owners have obligations over the control of their dogs and conversely others (including car drivers) would recompense the owner for the loss. Nowadays it's not really about compensation but the law remains.

Cats have never been working animals. Owners are not considered responsible for what they do which is why they can roam and enter others property without consequence. A dog could not do this; someone finding a loose dog in their garden has legal recourse - they can report an out of control dog. The other side of this is that others (e.g car drivers) need not make recompense to owners should they harm a cat.

You say it’s “ridiculous” but… what if it’s dark out, the driver is a young woman and it’s a rough neighbourhood that she doesn’t know very well? Would you still expect her to “try a few houses” then?

The point I’m trying to make (and that the fanatics on Facebook don’t seem to understand) is that we rarely know the exact circumstances so it’s unfair to always blame the driver, and also to show why enshrining this kind of requirement into law is problematic.

Yabu and ynbu. You shouldn't have to track down the owner but you should stop, move the cat to the side of the road and knock on some nearby doors to see if anyone knows whose cat it is. You should definitely take the cat to the vet if it is still alive whether you are on your way to a meeting or not.
Maybe not a legal requirement but a moral one for a decent person.

If you see a cat that is dead and can't stop or you can but can't do anything then post here if you have FB
It's a public group, just needs location and a photo of location/cat and one of us will go and collect it

Posting as it might help someone in future

My cat was hit outside our house last year and died in my arms. The person didn’t stop and DH was livid but I reminded him that I’d hit a neighbours cat a few years ago and didn’t even see it, I only felt it and went back to look because I lived on the road and knew it felt wrong. Cats are idiots on the road and would be so easy to hit one and not even know you’d done it, so this would be completely unenforceable from a legal perspective.

That said, I do think you’d have to to a special kind of arsehole to knowingly hit a cat and not stop.

It's already the law for dogs. Is that also problematic?

YABU

If you hit a cat you should stop and take it to the vet - It's now or becoming law that all cats have to be microchipped, vets can scan the cat and contact the owner from the microchip information they don't need a collar. It's heartbreaking to lose a pet cat and heartless to carry on driving leaving an animal to die in pain or injured and unable to get home.

Well I certainly agree with you.

Yanbu - it is a sad consequence of allowing a cat the right to roam.

If i hit any animal i would call the RSPCA but i wouldn't feel comfortable moving it. Where i lived there was a type of animal that could roam the lanes so i am used to looking out for things in the road but as our population increases i think this will be more of a problem

Imagine being the type of person who kills someone's family pet and doesn't bother to stop. YABU

Shame your oh so important pet doesn’t matter enough to you for you to exercise common sense and keep them safe indoors!