A Swiss woman who has lost two cats on a local road (an autobahn) is calling for a law that fines and imprisons drivers who fail to stop and notify the police or who fail to stop and take action when they run over a cat on the road. It makes no difference if it is an accident.
Picture above: I presume Andrea is carrying an urn with the ashes of one of her cats or both of them.
The woman is Andrea Eichmann and one of her cats was named Spike. She lives in Winkel, Switzerland and autobahn no 51 runs nearby.
She has been through a tragedy in losing two cats on the road. On both occasions the driver did not stop and try and help to find the cat’s owner or at least do something about it such as call the police.
She is treating both accidents as hit and runs. She believes that if a driver fails to stop when they hit a cat, they should be prosecuted and on conviction fined 10,000 Franc (Swiss) and/or 3 years maximum in jail.
I can see her point. Thousands of cats are killed on roads in Europe and the USA every year. They are treated as accidents. I am sure some cats are killed deliberately. What I mean is the cat is sauntering over the road and the driver chooses to drive over the cat rather than around the cat. That sort of behavior suits cat haters. Most are caused by the cat darting out over the road at the wrong time.
My personal view is that if a person driving a car hits a cat that darts over the road and hurts him or kills him, the driver should stop and do their best to sort things out. That is the least they can do. It may be difficult emotionally and troublesome to find the cat’s caretaker or someone who knows who the caretaker is.
Unless there is evidence of malicious cat killing or injury I don’t think a driver should be prosecuted. The problem is enforcement. How do you find people who drive into cats accidentally and where is the proof?
I do believe though that the driver should stop and help. In practice I don’t see it happening nor do I see any chance of a change in the law, even in Switzerland, as requested by Andrea.
That said, Switzerland has some of the most advanced animal welfare laws in the world.
Source of story: My thanks to Marc for showing me the Swiss newspaper clipping which was vaguely translated by a colleague. If some details are incorrect, sorry, it was due to poor translation 😉
I guess this means that every animal a cat kills is a murder victim and the owner of that cat can be fined and convicted of aiding and abetting a murderer.
Rubbish. Sorry Reality Strikes. Please try and think more clearly.
Firstly, “murder” is a human concept. Only humans kill wantonly for no good reason.
Secondly, cats belong to someone so when killed by cars that person should be notified.
Cats kill wildlife (sometimes) and no one owns wildlife – thank God.
If what you suggest was effected, then about half the world’s human population would be murderers if we treat humans equally to cats which we should because we are all on this planet trying to survive.
You have got mixed up on several levels. Murder is human, cats preying is natural and cannot be criticised.
Why can’t I be on his level? Why do I have to stand on my own two legs. Whycan’t i BE ON MY sHRIMP’S LEVEL? I want to be just like him. prowr. ??? what did Eric Idle say? ipso facto, must NOT be…
It may be an urn, or? symbolically asking for donations to a fund that should have been given to a long, long tiem ago?
and that’s a good thing, Ruthie, you know it! My heart is right there in the thick, sticky goodness of it My blood. Your blood.Our beloved feline’s.
‘A dog (as well as a goat, horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep and pig) does come within the remit of the Road Traffic Act and is a reportable accident so you are required by law to report it to the police’
I like your style, Ruth. Every time I read you, I get a little bit stronger. Give me more than -Michael? post all of the links that Ruth stands behind. b/c we ALL have her back. I do. You do. We ALL do! (I need my Earl Grey, right now, or maybe, just maybe, a cup of Oolong, Twinings) grrr! the night is finally over. damn!
Thanks Caroline, take it slowly, I’ve done animal welfare for a long time now but still learning new stuff every day and I’m glad my writing helps you get a bit stronger.
Have you tried Chamomile tea? It’s very soothing, it tastes herby though and not everyone likes it
Take care x
Chamomile is better than Varlerian, aka Centranthus rubra?rubus, , i forget the gender. malodourus Chamomile is a bit sweeter, and less oh my, leaning on my dad’s laptop again. Oreo’s in! He is going straight to the clinic in the morning here. LOL, Ruth. And he Will come out a lot better for it, This I know and I own, like you, kitten. 🙂 He’s not going to like it though, then, I’m going to have to bebe Him with lots of loving. He’ll survive, this we know… 😉
whoa, shoot. ignore me. Valerian root. left the “r” out. Irony is, I was forced in to the basement at my elementary school that yr (my dad moved us every yr, but it wasn’t his fault). I was with the –at that time–the mentally “retarded.” b/c I couldn’t say my “r” Centranthus sp.
Truth is, I loved escaping from the higher floors, The milk fountain was down there in that room w/ my poor fellow insulted comrades. Ohmigoodness, Ruth! I’ve got my cat and the neighbor’s cat eating out of the same dish! How often do you see that with domestic’s, not ferals? wow. now I have to get a moving. my ferals.
I’ll be doing an article on this today built around the difference between cats and dogs.
Good on you Michael, I’ll look forward to that and sharing it around cat loving contacts 🙂
Please be a bit more specific, because not all of us live where you do? 🙂
“The Road Traffic Act?” What the carnation is that, Ruth? Are you broadside?
The Road Traffic Act is a law we are supposed to follow, you’ve probably got one there too.
R.I.P Andrea’s cats.
Anyone knocking down a cat on a road anywhere in the world should stop and first see if the cat was still alive and could be helped by taking him/her to a vet. If not alive, to at least take the body so they could check for a microchip as I expect most vets like ours do, get phone calls from people who have lost a cat and horrible as the news is they at least know what happened to their pet.
I don’t know about Switzerland but here it’s a crime to run a dog over and do nothing about it, it has to be reported. So why not cats too? We’ve campaigned for this but as always, cats are second class citizens to dogs.
It’s the same old story though, the more progress the human race make, the more animals suffer, cars drive too fast, roads have got busier.
I don’t think there’s a journey any day without seeing ‘road kill’ Birds, hedgehogs, rabbits, no wonder our wild life is disappearing.
We stopped and picked up a wild rabbit one day, the poor thing was still alive but barely and more cars were just running over him even though it was a road safe to pull in on, I took him to the verge to die on the grass.
This is just one example of the way so many people put no value at all on animal life, they are killing living beings every day and guess what happening as our birds and wild life are getting less and less?
Yes, cats get the blame!
If one day the cat haters succeed in getting rid of all outdoor cats, who will they blame then?
I didn’t know that we had to report it if we run over a dog. Interesting and completely wrong that cats are excluded. I’ll do some work on that.
Michael, I accidentally ran over the tail of a bunny, I was braking as hard as I could, and the gddmnd my stupid foot, was not quick! enough. To this day, i THINK that I should be incarcerated for life, I ran over her tail, tore it right off, and when I parked to run after her, I must have put her in a bigger trauma. bless her heart! I was in the wrong to begin with. Two wrongs DON’t make a right, do they. I feel so ashamed. 🙁 but I WILL post this, for all. 🙁
Caroline dear it was an accident, you stopped to help the rabbit, what more could you do!
You MUST stop punishing yourself, I’m sure you are a good person, you will make yourself ill if you don’t start being kind to yourself.
This is apt timing – the guy just walked out my front door having built a netting around my whole balcony- the cats are out there now sniffing around and climbing the net already. 🙂
Wonderful news Marc, I can hardly wait to see pictures of your cats enjoying their Catio.
I’m so happy for them and know you must be feeling good too that they have it now 🙂
Good point Ruth – who will they blame – very sad and disturbed about the rabbit being repeatedly run over.
It was awful Marc, another etching in my brain, that rabbit lifting his head but helpless to move his body.
Sometimes I wonder how our hearts can hold any more grief for suffering animals.
Would you and Ms. Taylor give us some more, pls?