Woman recovers the bodies of cats hit by cars and reunites them with their owners
UK – NEWS AND COMMENT: Natalie Bennett is a star because she does something that a lot of people can’t do. She recovers the dead bodies of cats hit by cars and reunites them with their owners. At first, she was a bit squeamish about it but she now focuses on the good aspects of her voluntary work. She was driven to do this after she lost her ginger-and-white cat, Trinity, who she adopted from a shelter in Greece. Trinity was run over on the A52 near Chaddesden. At the time she was unaware that the accident had happened. She posted on social media and was told a cat resembling Trinity had been found on the side of the road. Her body had been recovered by the council and disposed of in landfill. The council said that they could not find a microchip which to me sounds more like they did not bother to scan Trinity.
Trinity and Natalie. A sad picture. Photo: Natalie (presumed selfie).
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Anyway, it devastated her. She wanted to hold Trinity one last time even if it was her battered body. She was motivated to do something for others to ensure that other cats hit by cars did not end up in landfill sites. She is part of that team of wonderful ladies campaigning for a change in the law so that it is obligatory for councils to scan for microchips in a much more formal way of reuniting cats killed on the road with their owners.
She admits that some of the cats that she recovers from the side of the road are “not in a good way”. You can imagine, and people ask how she can do it but her response is that she doesn’t even think about it. Her partner, Paul, has helped which I think is fantastic as well. When her car was in the garage, he collected a cat for her.
She is known to do this work and is therefore contacted; I presume via social media. She’s part of the so-called Gizmo’s Army. She has brought closure to cat owners in Derby. It seems that she is scans Facebook for postings about missing cats on local Facebook pages. And sometimes people tag her with these posts so she has got a bit of a name for herself.
She has been doing this for a year and has returned five dead cats to their owners. She has also returned two missing cats who were alive. It appears that she has recovered more than five deceased cats from the side of the road but sometimes they don’t have microchips or collars and therefore she can’t reunite them with their owners.
Deceased cats without microchips or collars are taken to Scarsdale Vets at Pride Park where they are held for a week at least. Missing cats which are alive are taken to Derby Cats Protection. She proudly states that she united one cat who had been lost for almost a year and another had been lost for nine months.
Perhaps her bravest recovery was of a deceased cat who had been killed on the A38. It’s a busy road so she had to carry out the recovery at 2:30 AM in the morning when traffic was light. The cat was on the central reservation. She pulled over onto a slip road and ran up the main road and crossed it to collect him. He was micro-chipped. His owners had been looking for him for three weeks. They buried him in their back garden.
This is a woman, as mentioned, who is doing work that almost nobody else has ability or the will to do. As I said, she’s a star. She is bringing closure to people who have lost their cats not knowing where they are or what happened. Like many other people I support her campaign and have written about it. You can read that article if you wish by clicking on this link. The councils are disposing of thousands of cats annually in landfill. It is not right. It has to be admitted though that some cat owners have to take responsibility.
SOME MORE ON ROAD TRAFFIC:
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Reason why UK drivers don’t have to stop and report a collision with a cat
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2 girls stand over their cat killed on a road where they are about to be hit by a van behind them
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Cat uses pedestrian crossing like a human – learned or coincidence?
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No not much warning. Unlike hurricanes a tornado can form in just minutes. It was heading in my direction but suddenly turned east for Joplin. Many pets were ripped out of their owners arms as roofs were torn off their homes. Many times the storm is so loud you can’t hear the sirens. Just google Joplin MO Tornado, it actually knocked a 8 story hospital off it’s foundation. Should be a F6 but they only go to F5.
After a tornado destroyed Joplin I drove around looking for lost pets. I saw many dead cats and dogs. I took their picture and noted as best I could where the pet was. Location was hard because everything was leveled. I then would look on lost pets Joplin and was able to let people know where their pets remains were. I was the only one doing it. I wanted to pick up the pet but our shelter wouldn’t take the bodies. I united several with their families that were grateful to know what happened to their pet.
You did a great job Tamara and you should be proud of yourself. It is a very difficult thing to do as was apparent to you because you were the only person doing it. Thanks for commenting. It is sad to me to learn that there were many dead cats and dogs. Was there a warning that the tornado was coming? I would expect there to be a warning. If there was a warning why won’t the cats and dogs placed in a safe place? I don’t understand why there are so many dead cats and dogs.