This is a doctor (a GP), Linda Smith, living in the country in England who lives near a main road (Stanghow Road near New Skelton) where cars can legally travel at 60 mph. She has lost four cats in four years on the road. She wants the council (Redcar and Cleveland Council) to reduces to speed limit to 40 mph. She believes that this will make the road safer for her cats. It will not and that is obvious.

The road where four cats have been killed

This is a classic example where the obsession by Brits to let their cats wander outside no matter where their home is leads to unnecessary deaths or serious injury.

There are circumstances and places where it is simply impossible to justify letting your cat go outside and roam freely. This is one of those situations. That’s obvious and if this lady fails to grasp that fact she must be stupid.

Admittedly she does say the road is also dangerous for children and other people to cross but the story focuses on cats.

The British people need to be more thoughtful about letting their cats roam freely outside. There is too much of an emphasis on free-roaming and not enough on cat welfare with a lack of focus on the deadly hazards for cats outside. There is noticeable laissez-fair attitude by British cat owners towards the potential dangers that free-roaming domestic cats face.

Linda Smith probably has a back garden and if so she could build a nice cat enclosure with direct access from her house. That would be an obvious compromise providing a safe and stimulating place for her cats to entertain themselves.

Other obvious hazards to free-roaming cats are poisons (both accidental and deliberate) and being shot at by an air rifle. These are surprisingly common. There are quite a few idiotic, malicious and nasty individuals (usually young men) who delight in hurting and killing domestic cats.