Re ‘speed bumps plea’ Echo Sept 29: While I have sympathy with anyone losing a pet to irresponsible drivers and it has to be said we get our fair share around here as well, cat owners in particular seem to devolve themselves of any responsibility regarding their pets.
Where I live I’m surrounded by cats on all sides, whose owners seem oblivious to the fact that their pets use my front and back garden and flower beds as a toilet and to chase, torture and kill wildlife such as birds, frogs etc that I try to attract into my garden. They take fish from my pond and jump onto the bonnet of my car causing scratches, which are going to cost me hundreds of pounds to have rectified.
The usual defence by cat owners is that a cat is an independent animal and can’t be controlled. In fact it’s often a jocular boast that the cat owns the owner and not the other way around. Just imagine if I allowed my dog to do all the things I’ve mentioned above. Judging by the endless litany of letters complaining about dog mess in public areas by irresponsible dog owners, think of the outrage if I allowed my dog to trespass into other people’s gardens and run amok. If these pets can’t be controlled, then perhaps they shouldn’t be kept as pets.
I have a lot of sympathy with pet owners that lose a pet as it often affects the children as well, and probably gives a lot of pleasure to their owners, but that’s no excuse for cat owners not taking responsibility for their pets. Let me make a few suggestions: Get cat litter trays and make them use it, have a bell on your cat’s collar to warn wildlife of their prescience, don’t allow your cat to wander where it likes. It’s either a pet or a wild animal, not both.
One of my neighbours does actually comply with the first two suggestions and, apart from it wandering around my garden, it’s not a huge problem to us.
So the message to the ladies in Camp Road is exercise some control and if you don’t want your cat run over then don’t let it wander out into the road and wherever it likes. If you can’t control it, consider a more controllable type of pet.
J Dyer, Ringstead Crescent, Weymouth
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