Resident Calls For More Compassion When Dealing With Deceased Pets

Local resident Sarah Spruce is calling for East Riding of Yorkshire Council to show more compassion when it comes to dealing with people’s deceased pets.

Sarah has spoken out after she lost two cats in just a matter of days.

One of her pets was found close by and thought to have been poisoned, while Poppy was hit by lorry and killed instantly.

Despite Poppy’s remains being handed over to East Riding of Yorkshire, she says no attempt was made to locate her, the owner.

Speaking to HU17.net she said;

“Our cat went missing on Sunday and after our other cat going missing on Wednesday, I decided to post of Facebook in the hope we would find them.”

“My neighbour found one cat in next door’s garden, and he had died of suspected poisoning. He hadn’t even been missing 24 hours.”

“Then on Wednesday night I heard from a lady that had seen my other missing cat, Poppy, get run over by a lorry outside her house.”

After seeing the accident the kind-hearted neighbour wrapped Poppy, placed her in a box and contacted the RSPCA who advised her to call the local council.

Sarah says the neighbour was told to put the animal in the green bin but refused to do so and requested they collect the cat and scan it for a micro chip.

Sarah contacted the council after to find out what had happened to her cat only to learn that the council had disposed of the body without checking if the animal had indeed been chipped.

An upset Sarah said;

“I called them first thing. They couldn’t get hold of the supervisor as there was nothing on the system. They rang me back about an hour later and told me they had already disposed of her.”

“I asked why? Why had she not been scanned? They said they just assumed it was the lady’s cat and tried to pass the blame to her for not stating it wasn’t her cat.”

Sarah says the lady who found the cat was assured that the council would scan the animal to see if it had a micro chip.

Sarah said;

“They said they would double check Poppy wasn’t still on the back of the truck and ring me back. They rang me back but said it was too late.”

“I want people to know what has happened. I do not want anyone else to go through this. Poppy never had a collar as it can cause cats to get caught up and strangle themselves, but she was chipped.”

“All I want is for the council to have more compassion and treat the animals and the families with some respect, dignity and just simply scan them.”

“If there is no chip or no reply from details on the chip, then yes dispose of it, but no attempt was made what so ever to contact me.”

“It’s bad enough losing them but to think they’ve been simply thrown away is just added upset along with not having the chance to say good-bye.”

An East Riding of Yorkshire Council Spokesperson said:

“It is normal council procedure for deceased cats or dogs to be scanned for a chip in order to alert the owners.”

“Unfortunately this did not occur in this situation. The council has apologised to both the owner and the resident who alerted the council to the cat and measures have been taken to avoid a reoccurrence in the future.”

In March this year, the Minister for Transport announced that all pets killed on roads would be collected and where possible reunited with their owners.

The change came after 122,000 people signed a petition calling for Harvey’s Law to be implemented, a campaign that was started by June Divine after her poodle Harvey was killed on the M62.

As part of Treasury austerity measures, mandatory scanning of canine traffic victims for electronic tags and other identifiers was being phased out, to date no new legislation has been promised.