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Please find below a letter I have sent to our local paper after the death of our kitten. Am I being unreasonable in my thoughts?
We, like so many other people in this supposed animal loving nation, cherish our pets and consider them as part of our family. So I am sure many, if not all, the residents of Westbury can empathise with the anguish and grief we felt upon discovering our beloved 8 month old kitten had been run over and killed on Hinwood road during the early hours of March 4.
I found her lying in the road whilst setting off on my journey to work. Her adorable white and tabby frame had been battered beyond recognition by the procession of traffic, (whos occupants either lacked the compassion or the stomach to move her hapless body the 3 feet to the safe haven of the footpath) that felt it easier or more comfortable to drive over her. I was only able to indentify that it was indeed one of our family, Sylvie, by the collar and identity tag we had loving put around her neck not so many months earlier in a hope that should she be lost or injured that we could be contacted.
I know that accidents happen and that some cats dont have the greatest of road sense. What I cant believe is that even the most sensually impaired driver would not realise that they had hit something in the road. I find it even more incredulous that in that knowledge they would not stop and take appropriate action. If guilt, fear of recriminations, or the lack of a phone deterred the purportrator from contacting us, I would have hoped the very least somebody with even an ounce of humanity would have done would be to put her body out of line of further damage saving us from the gruesome image that now haunts us.
A stark reminder of the fate that bestowed our beautiful little kitten is the blood stained road where her body lay that morning and one which saddens me terribly everyday I have to pass it.
During our near 6 years in Westbury we have lost 2 cats to traffic along this stretch of road. There is an imposed 30mph limit upon entering Westbury from any direction but I have witnessed numerous vehicles exceeding this along Hinwood Rd, including very recently, a lorry laden with sheep thundering along the road in the dawn light with no hope of stopping in an emergency. Sylvie lost her life at the very point where the younger Hinwood and Brockton Wood contingency cross to and from the playing fields and with the blatant disregard of the speed limit I feel drastic needs must be taken to avoid any more fatalities.
I will be campaigning for speed reducing features, possibly speed humps, on this stretch of road between the Lion and the pumping station and would welcome any assistace in getting these measured implemented. If any good can come from Sylvies early and undignified death let it be that the same or worse does not happen again.
I feel you dude,
I stop my car, pick the kitten up and get accused of running over it...
You have to put yourself in the other boat too.
Sorry for your loss.
Sorry you lost your cat but that is well OTT. Get some perspective. Old people die alone in their houses without being found for weeks, millions die worldwide for lack of clean water. Pet cats get run over.
What happened to compassion? It got over-used in the wrong places.
It's a pet, and pets die.
Sorry to hear bud 🙁
Yeah, compassion is a rare thing these days.
I could go on to tell a awful story, where a mate hit a cat, so he stopped the car to see it lying on the side of the road, thinking it was there suffering he pulled out a tyre wrench from the boot of his car and began to put it out of it's misery, the owner rushed out to stop him and pointed out the actual cat he's knocked over, which was dead on the other side of the road......
Now this moment of compassion turned out badly but he tried, so many don't, what's more horrific is that in some countrys actual real dead people are left at the roadside to rot.
Sir Elton will no doubt be along shortly to butcher a little ditty
[i], the owner rushed out to stop him and pointed out the actual cat he's knocked over, which was dead on the other side of the road......[/i] 😀
That's an exceptional wind up or you need help!
Assuming it's true - if you keep losing cats on this stretch of road where you live.....you may like to sit down with a brandy before you read the next bit, it may you a tad feint......STOP BUYING CATS OR MOVE F***ING HOUSE!
SillyoldhectorA stark reminder of the fate that bestowed our beautiful little kitten is the blood stained road where her body lay that morning and one which saddens me terribly everyday I have to pass it.
During our near 6 years in Westbury we have lost 2 cats to traffic along this stretch of road.
If, as I suspect you are a very good satirist - then I tip my glass to you, I got a laugh out of this. Much appreciated.
If you are actually serious then you have bigger problems than dead cats - like a completely distorted world view and a tenuous grip on reality.
whilst i have some sympathy for you (I'm the kinda guy who helps hedgehogs across roads) i was told as a child that you have to stop if you hit a dog as there will be a owner near by, but you can leave a cat as there will be no owner with it. as for others running over sylvie guess they don't want to get there hands dirty. 🙁
Have you met sharki....
Wind up right?
You kn ow, that makes me think of the guy that microwaved a cat. Horrific incident, he had to get a police escort out of court and a thread of daily mail-esque posturing appeared on here about hw hanging was to good for him.
While this was going on another trial was in progress. It's over now, but here's a summary. A woman has a 20 month old son and a heroin habit. Her boyfriend who has a record of violence and housebreaking to fund his heroin habit has just moved n with her. He hits the wee boy s hard the boy suffers a ruptured duodenum/small intestine. Now this is serous but treatable. But not getting treatment, it takes the boy 2 days to die. During this time, he is in extreme pain and vomiting brown liquid. So the doting parents take him to a party at a pal's house, where they prop him up against a toilet and let him get on with it whilst they lay in about the booze and the smack. Next night, mummmy dearest goes out on the game to keep get the cash for more smack. The boy dies later that night. The police note the general squalor of the house, including that there was 1 bed with no sheets or pillowcases. Mummy is charged with culpabale homicide, boyfriend with murder. End result was charges against mummy were dropped and she's out - [url= http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2009/03/05/exclusive-my-son-s-death-was-not-my-fault-says-mum-of-brandon-muir-86908-21172124/ ]her story is here[/url] (the Record is part Mail part Sun), and boyfriend was found guilty of culpabale homicide.
No crowds aoutside the court, no chest beating on here. Why not? Because the child was the child of a junkie hooker not a cute and fluffy little kitten.
So, sorry about your cat, but it's just a cat. Get over it and go to the pet shop
millions die worldwide for lack of clean water
What the **** has that got to do with Sillyoldhector being upset about the loss of his cat ?
Are you [i]seriously[/i] suggesting that because some people die needlessly for want of basic necessities, no one should be upset about a loss - including a much loved pet ?
Does that rule also apply to you - you only get upset if you're certain that there is no one worst off than you ?
.
Sadly Sillyoldhector, there is a lack of compassion by some in this world, but there are also many people who feel a great deal of compassion - you'd be surprised. Many people would stop to help an injured animal, probably many more than you might imagine, often taking them to a vets and being prepared to pay the vet's bills.
Some years back I found the girl across the road's cat had been run over, it was a terrible mess so I picked it up and took it into my garden, told her what had happened but wouldn't let her see it. Got her to phone her boyfriend at work who came round and took the body off me. They were very grateful, but I know what it's like - I've had two cats run over. Although finding their bodies was very traumatic for me, I was lucky in that their injuries were all internal.
Sorry about your loss - I know how you feel 🙁
christ some of you are choppers, at what point does the op say his moggies life is more valuable than that of a humans. I don't drive but if i did i would at least give the owner a call and move the corpse to the verge, would all of you above not?? 😕
Sorry about your cat(s)
Like family members aren't they? I'm sorry to say it, but non-cat-lovers just don't feel the same about the critters.
Grizzly gus - just trying to give some perspective. Perhaps not the best example
buzz-lightyear - MemberSorry about your cat(s)
Like family members aren't they?
No
No
Erm, yes - that's the point of having them. If they were just like part of the furniture, then there really wouldn't be much point.
Jesus christ! there is a fing difference between a cat and a person. It's possible to be a realist and an animal lover. The death of a family pet can be sad but it is hardly the same as loosing a child, or a husband or a wife is it? So stop fing saying they are like family.
Your family dont run around the neighbourhood shagging everything that moves, eating small animals or pissing and shitting n the garden do they? You dont neuter your children at a young age in case they sire unwanted children do you? FFS Wise up!!
druidh:Sir Elton will no doubt be along shortly to butcher a little ditty
Well she was the people's [s]princess[/s] pussy, it would be only right.
there is a f***ing difference between a cat and a person. ....... The death of a family pet can be sad but it is hardly the same as loosing a child
Who's saying there's no difference - quote please ?
And who's saying that the death of a family pet is the same as loosing a child ?
Some of you dickheads want to get some 'perspective'.
BTW, does everyone understand what the word "like" actually means ?
Hobnob anybody?
grizzlygus[i]there is a f***ing difference between a cat and a person. ....... The death of a family pet can be sad but it is hardly the same as loosing a child[/i]
Who's saying there's no difference - quote please ?
...
buzz-lightyear - Member
Sorry about your cat(s)Like family members aren't they
..
Sillyoldhectorcherish our pets and consider them as part of our family.
I would have hoped the very least somebody with even an ounce of humanity would have done would be to put her body out of line of further damage saving us from the gruesome image that now haunts us.
A stark reminder of the fate that bestowed our beautiful little ..... is the blood stained road where her body lay that morning and one which saddens me terribly everyday I have to pass it.
I feel drastic needs must be taken to avoid any more fatalities.
.
Fate? Fatalities? Where her body lay? Seriously.
So what's your point GNARGERNER [whatever] ?
How is saying pets are like family members suggesting that there is no difference between a cat and a human ?
Yes plenty of people see their cat or dog as part of the family - ok maybe not 'human' members of the family, but nevertheless still like part of the family - and perfectly normal imo.
Doesn't mean that they would see the death of their cat or dog in the same way as the death of their child. ffs.
I swerve to avoid slugs - how's that for compassion ?
i cannot belive the insensitiveness of most drivers.i stopped and moved a cat that was dead in the road and getting run into the tarmac.it wasnt my cat but someone loved it and i didnt want them to find a pile of white fur and blood.
i dont own a cat.
Some rather idiotic comments on this thread, you have to realise that people have a great connection to their pets, and rightly so. Perhaps its some macho-esq front they like to put on to impress other forum users?
Sillyoldhector; Whilst I realise there are several people on her who would make light/take amusement from the sad demise of a member of your family, I personally think it's very sad. Pets are more than just an animal. They can give you so much happiness and joy.
Of course it's sad, indeed terrible, if anyone or any animal dies an untimely death. And only the most callous would find amusement in the death of a little creature.
Jedi is a top geezer for what he did. I'd do the same.
A pet can bring so much happiness and joy to a person or family. What's wrong with that?
All life is precious.
Perhaps its some macho-esq front they like to put on to impress other forum users?
more likely absent oversentimentalism
had I a cat, and were it run over, I'd rather it were unidentifiable
I swerve to avoid slug
..and do you run over cats when you do that?
FFS, Barnes, leave it.
You know what? If I were in the OP's position, I'd be ****ing proper upset. S'a little bit of nature, a pet. And pets can have so much character. I had a little Budgie; he loved classical music, speshly Mozart! I was proper grief-stricken when he died. Had him for 11 years, and he was a really positive thing in my life. I grew up with that crazy little bird.
Come on people, drop the macho tough-man bollocks. Have a heart.
absent oversentimentalism
Thanks for that term - note made for future use!
..and do you run over cats when you do that?
cats can look after themselves. And I mean when I'm on my bike, as it's the only form of transport I have other than feet.
FFS, Barnes, leave it.
it's my opinion that it's more compassionate to obliterate the sad remains, and more to the point, it's impossible to predict the preference of some unknown owner, and randomly stopping to move corpses has its own degree of hazard in these split second road rage times...
hazard??road rage times??? jeez.
it is sometimes hard to notice what kind of animal it is once it's been killed in the road - people might have assumed it was a rabbit or a fox
whilst I feel for your loss, I don't see that slowing down the trafiic would make a difference
ah well if you're on your bike you want to avoid slugs - serious skidding material they are. And get right stuck in the tread as well.
I always find it sad if I see any animal that has been killed by a vehicle. It's roads and cars that are contrary to nature.
Good to see there are at least one or two compassionate people on here.
Good to see there are at least one or two compassionate people on here.
I have sufficient compassion for animals not to eat them... (or feed them to the pets I lack)
I had a kitten who was killed in an rta, luckily a local cat fan picked him up and took him to safety, to prevent him beeing "splattered"
And to who ever was complaning about millionns dying wordwide for lack of cleanwater- here's a plan... cancell your internet and give the money to wateraid/oxfam?i
STW is surely NOT the place to come looking for compassion... Like, WTF were you thinking? Just a bunch of calous b'tards lurking about behind their keyboards here ;P
But, anyway dude.. sorry to hear about your kitten, that sux. The world is not a compassion-less place, it's just that often the UK is an uptight, paranoid and scared place. All this fear prevents people from acessing their true compassionate inner natures. (Sorry to get all worthy and budhist-like on y'all).
I suspect that the poor unfortunate who originally hit the kitten was probably too scared / freaked out about what they'd done to stop and help, and the person driving *right* behind them might not have even seen said kitten, running over it in the process, leaving the person behind them with only a bit of a mess to stop for, which they probably didn't think was worth it. By the time you get to the 20th person, it's probably very unlikely that anyone was ever gonna stop.
To many people rushing this way and that - often with another person driving right up their ass. The world probably needs to slow down a tad.
(Stop this planet, I want to get off - as a certain sheep may have once said)
Oh christ! It's either a figment of a very good bit of wind up humour or a [b]cat[/b]. [i]A member of the family[/i]
Dear oh dear.....get a grip. Your heart is meant to pump blood not bleed it.
"[i]I have sufficient compassion for animals not to eat them... (or feed them to the pets I lack)[/i]"
Very good point well made.
To all those that have empathised with me, many thanks its reassuring to know that there are some people around that would care enough to stop.
To others, perhaps your right - I need to be far more dispassionate about the animals we take in from rescue centres. At the end of the day its only an animal right?
What I dont need is perspective. In my 42 years Ive experienced my fair share of mortality. At an early age I have lost both parents, both in sudden circumstances, Ive witnessed the dead and bloated bodies of the poor on the trails of Nepal and streets of Eygpt, seen cats bludgeoned to death in Vietnam and been a hitchhiker in a truck in Australia whos driver ran over Roos just for fun. All of this I realise is part of life but never the less saddens me and in no way made my Tuesday mornings find any easier. I suspect many of those like like to give "perspective" actually have no experience of either situation.
It was a simple story. My cat got run over, it upset me. By a simple act of compassion, ie moving it out of the road, the episode may have been less upsetting. Now I would like to do something to stop similar, or worse ( many children play in the same road) from happening again. What is wrong with that?