No plans to force drivers to report collisions with cats, government says
Summary
The UK government stated it does not plan to introduce a law requiring drivers to report hitting cats with their vehicles. A petition with nearly 11,000 signatures called for such a law to protect cats, but the government cited the difficulty of prosecuting such cases because drivers might be unaware of collisions with small animals like cats.Key Facts
- The UK government has no plans to force drivers to report hitting cats with vehicles.
- Nearly 11,000 people signed a petition urging the government to change the law to include cats.
- Current law requires reporting collisions with specified animals like dogs, not cats.
- The government says prosecuting drivers would be hard since cats are small and active during low-visibility times.
- The exclusion of cats from the law is partly because it originally focused on "working animals" like dogs.
- Cats Matter, a campaign group, expressed disappointment with the government's decision.
- A 2021 report found road accidents cause injuries to 4% of cats, and a charity encourages taking injured cats to vets.
- Parliamentary petitions with 10,000 signatures get a government response, and those with 100,000 are debated in Parliament.
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