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.
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.
If your pet causes an accident here you may find yourself liable. Aside from her cats being killed she is risking the life of a good soul who might reflex to avoid and cause and accident or get out in the road to try and save the cat. She’s quite selfish along with everything else.
That’s a very good argument ME. It had not crossed my mind but it is very true.
My thoughts on this_Any animal or human can be run over by a vehicle going slow as well. All it takes is a catch of a paw or foot under the rolling wheel. She should keep her cats confined if she can’t train them to stay out of the road. All of my Maine Coons are well trained, and stay clear of the roadways, even though we have an invisible fence !
An animal will take a nap under a car and I always rattle my keys and look underneath BEFORE starting the engine.
Eva
I agree with the conclusion that keeping cats indoors forever would save them from dying on the roadway IF they never, EVER got out. But if you have anyone at all, even a few people who let their cats roam, high speed vehicles are still deadly… but by how much? To me it’s worth asking, to what degree and why not make the roads a little safer for all animals and humans? My question would be: at what speed, beyond which are cats unable to safely judge safe crossing, or better, at what speed below which does it start to make a difference? Let’s hypothesize that 43mph (69kph) (the speed of the fastest horse) is the upper speed after which it makes no difference, and that 37mph (59.5kph) and below they are more likely than not to be able to judge an approaching vehicle and avoid it. 40mph (64kph) seems a reasonable allowance especially considering such a narrow road (as pictured). Usually freeway speeds are reserved for wider roads I think. My ideal solution to handle this would be for all to give a little. A reduced speed would benefit all and not hinder traffic so much that civilization suffers or grinds to a halt… I mean police and fire crews can still speed as much as they want. AND cat owners could also keep their cats inside during peak traffic hours, else-wise if they get hit at that time, the owner has no one to blame but themselves. If everyone trained their cats (as I do) to come to me when called, that could be done.
She certainly doesn’t seem to be very bright, 4 cats in four years, most people would learn after the first accident and keep the next cat indoors.