This appears to be a brutal tale of unnecessary cat killing by the authorities but correct me if am wrong.
Why did an Icelandic veterinarian have to kill a domestic cat brought into Iceland illegally? All they had to do was isolate the cat – place the cat in long term quarantine – to determine if the cat was carrying a disease which was potentially harmful to Icelandic animals.
I don’t see a logically need to kill the cat. The cat’s owner could have paid the costs. She probably would have been willing to do so. Did she have the option? I doubt it.
A Swiss woman travelled to Iceland by ship (Norræna ferry). Someone (I presume someone on the boat) tipped off the police before her arrival in South East Iceland.
The South Iceland police found her at Almannaskarð. Her cat – an innocent victim in all this – was taken from her to the nearest veterinarian where he/she was euthanised (we don’t know the cat was killed but I presume it was humanely). It seems that no questions were asked. No quarter was given. No attempt was made to find a more humane solution. Just kill the cat.
Obviously the cat’s owner failed to obtain the necessary permits to import her cat into Iceland. But all animals coming into Iceland are checked by vets and then kept in isolation for four weeks to make sure they are healthy.
Was it beyond the bounds of Icelandic human endeavor to do a thorough health check on the cat and to do it isolation? And then keep the cat in isolation for as long as it takes.
P.S. We don’t have a picture of the cat concerned. Not surprising considering the story.
Source: http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is.
What horrible stories! Iceland is definitely NOT cat friendly and cat owners should consider boycotting the island. My condolences to all who have lost furry family members to Icelandic laws. <3
My thoughts too. It just seems far too tough and inhumane a decision for me.
Then may someone bring a rabid cat with them to the UK and let it roam free because that’s your custom. Lets see how cruel you think it is then.
They are acting in accordance with all national and international pet-trade, import/export, and animal-transport laws everywhere on earth. Laws created by people whose brains haven’t fallen out on the floor in a Toxoplasmic mush yet. The UK does this exact same thing too. I suggest we boycott all things UK.
Your opening statement is absurd and irrelevant. I clearly did not imply that the cat should be let in and allowed to roam. I am afraid that you are an idiot of the first order.
they actually have pet-friendly hotels, etc there so i doubt they r unfriendly to pets. the law SEEMS to b legit, but the thing is there is way more to this than we know, BUT there IS 1 thing we can infer & that is: the owner KNEW it what was being done was illegal cuz the cat was SMUGGLED n & stowed n their RV. so, clearly, they were aware of what they were doing as well as the possible penalties.
if u think about it logically, Icelands law, & their response was well n keeping with what they have already done & they didnt jump the gun on it cuz its clearly stated what they would do, when, & why. sorry, but if an animal, or person for that matter, could potentially carry something that could adversely affect the people I am responsible for id quarantine them, etc too. quarantine measures, etc r pretty universal & there IS a reason for them. NOT following them is WORSE.
when the lives & well fare of thousands & millions of people & animals r n ur care u do what u r SUPPOSED to do to protect them. would ANY of u let a stray sleep, eat, etc with ur healthy animals if u DIDNT know for sure if it was healthy or not? all the knowledgeable, caring caretakers would say NO FIRGGIN WAY immediately after being asked this question. why is it so different here? when u rescue a stray ALL vets say u r SUPPOSED to quarantine the animal & KEEP IT AWAY from ur healthy kitties, etc so they dont get sick,right?
those that r more comfortable with their skills might CHOOSE to keep the animal in their own house, but most(if they were unsure) would lean on bringing it to a shelter if the thought was that it WAS indeed sick somehow but u just didnt know how or what it had. its the phrase, “better safe than sorry”. now if u bring it to the shelter & it IS sick with something incurable & contagious & they DO choose to euthanize it, r u gonna say they r bad people, etc? no. why? cuz they were just doing their job which is to help when they can, but if they cant to keep the others safe & healthy.
maybe their cat wasnt “sick” per se, but it WAS brought in illegally. it HAD passed the threshold they set to determine which ones go home or not & these people clearly passed it. their law says that if it WAS NOT smuggled past customs it would b sent home, at the owners expense of course, but if its SMUGGLED PAST customs it would b euthanized. so they KNEW the risks. they COULD HAVE filled out the paper work, but they CHOSE not to, for whatever reason.
thats why , me personally, i CANT blame Iceland, cuz they didnt do anything different than they have done before. Iceland followed their law(which these people clearly knew about) to the letter apparently. should these people have received special treatment for some reason?
u know thats kinda the problem. when people feel that a law doesnt apply to them for whatever reason. what would have happened if they had doe things differently & their animal HAD been sick AND infected others. what then? what would u say to the kids that lost their kitties, or the elderly woman that lost her companion of 10+yrs because the authorities chose to let a cat n without quarantining it, etc? it would b different if their law DIDNT state that they would kill an animal that was snuck past customs, etc, but it does.
i dont mean to sound harsh or critical or imply that ur or anyone elses opinion on THIS matter r invalid, etc. what i AM saying is that maybe it might not b a bad idea to put ourselves into the mind of the people that made the law, voted on it, etc, & the people that actually BROKE it & give crdit & blame where it is truly due. there WAS a way where their cat WOULD HAVE lived, but THEY CHOSE to go past it. they KNEW they were n the wrong which is why they SMUGGLED it into the country. between those people, whose fault was it that THAT innocent cat died?…the caretakers cuz THEY KNEW, but they DID IT ANYWAY.
when people break the law AFTER THEY KNEW it was wrong then the consequences r on THEM. if someone goes out driving AFTER they were drinking & they get pulled over, loose their licence, etc , whose fault was it…THE DRIVERs fault. if a cop sees them, but lets them go & they hurt &/or kill someone its the cop AND the drivers fault. if a mentally unstable person gets a gun when they shouldnt & hurts & /or kills someone its the dealers fault as well as the shooters cuz they should NEVER have gotten it n the 1st place.
its EASY to blame people when we dont know the whole story. its easy when WE have a particular stake in it as well, but BEFORE we pass judgement on someone we NEED to learn the WHOLE story, or as much of it as we can. otherwise we r not being fair to anyone, even ourselves.
sorry for this being so long, & hope hope i didnt piss anyone off over what i said. if i did i apologize for that. God Bless!
http://icelandreview.com/news/2017/04/24/swiss-cat-destroyed-icelandic-authorities
Quote from link provided:
The reason for the law is that many animal diseases, including rabies, have never been detected in Iceland. Icelandic authorities are therefore extremely vigilant when it comes to the smuggling of live animals. In cases when animals are discovered onboard airplanes they are usually sent back on the next flight, but in cases when animals have already managed to evade customs officials and made it into the country, they are put down without exception.
http://icelandmag.visir.is/article/cat-smuggled-iceland-rv-swiss-traveller-not-first-travelling-pet-put-down-police
There is quite a procedure to bringing a pet into Iceland it appears. Either this was purely punitive to the cat owner or they wanted to test the cat for rabies. This could have been handled so much better. I can find nothing from the authorities to justify killing the cat. I’m not trying to sound cold but the cats owner was most likely aware of the restrictions and tried to smuggle her cat in. There may be more to the story from that end. It’s the duty of the pet owner to make sure their pets are welcome at the end destination.
Unbelievably cruel.