George Osborne is the number 2 politician in the United Kingdom as he is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He lives at number 11 Downing Street. His neighbour is the Prime Minister. Number 10 has a resident cat, Larry, to keep rats at bay and George Osborne’s family also have a cat and her name is Freya. She is a 4-year-old tabby cat.
A little while ago I wrote an article about Freya wandering around the area of London some way from home. I was critical then but this worse. Freya has now been rescued by a homeless outreach worker more than a mile from number 11 Downing Street. She was found at a busy junction in Vauxhall two days ago. It gives me the shivers thinking about it. This is a traffic dominated place.
Katie Jones says that she is used to working with homeless people (Thames Reach), not homeless cats but when she saw Freya she realised how distressed she was and did the only thing possible and got her off the streets. Clearly in the area where she was found there is a lot of traffic and it is extremely dangerous for a wandering domestic cat.
The outcome, I read, was that George Osborne’s chauffeur was sent around in his official car, I suspect, to pick up Freya from Katie Jones.
I don’t want to be harsh and I don’t know what you think about this but common sense tells me that it is irresponsible for a cat owner to allow their cat to wander at will around Central London, which is packed with heavy traffic and a myriad of congested roads.
As this has happened before, to a lesser extent, you would have thought that Mr Osborne’s family would have made alterations to their guardianship of their cat. This is hardly guardianship. It is more a casual acquaintance with a tabby cat who happens to wander in and wander out of their lives to the detriment of the health and welfare of the cat.
I don’t believe that a domestic cat living in Central London should be allowed to wander at will. And certainly Mr Osborne is well able to find alternative means of allowing his cat to fulfil natural instincts while keeping her safe.
George Osborne is a multimillionaire through his family’s business in home furnishings. They make wallpaper and other products. Surely he could make arrangements to do better than this for his cat.
Perhaps, if I am to apportion blame, it is better that I blame his wife who I presume is in charge of the household. Being Chancellor of the Exchequer is a very busy job and therefore no doubt George Osborne has little time to micro-manage his cat’s activities. Anyway it’s not good enough and I’m sorry to say that. It also sets a bad example because Freya is a high profile domestic cat and it would be nice to see her living in an ideal domestic cat environment.
Michael I agree they don’t seem too bothered do they? Some people are just so flippant about the welfare of their companion animals and yet aren’t they supposed to be family? If his daughter or grandaughter went wondering he would take action then but obviously this cat is was down his list of priorities
Agreed. Some people are unconcerned. It must go back to thinking that “it is only a cat” – an attitude which is not good for cat caretaking. It is more about cat ownership.
I agree my cats come before me their bellies get filled before ours if we don’t have much money and have to choose vets treatment always comes first. Btw typo I of course meant wandering not wondering lol 🙂