MPs voice support for making drivers report cats hit on the road

Salòme Van Leuven's six-year-old cat Tubbs was found dead after being hit by a car

MPs have spoken in support of changing the law to require motorists who hit cats to stop, report what has happened, and seek help from a vet.

Drivers in the UK already have to do this for accidents involving "working animals", including horses, cows, mules, sheep, pigs, goats and dogs.

However, the rules do not apply to cats or wild animals.

But a minister said changing the law would require significant legislation and would not be a "quick fix".

Transport minister Richard Holden said he acknowledged the "heartbreak" caused by the loss of pets.

But he added the government's approach was "to make roads safer for all users, which will in turn also help reduce the risk to all animals on them".

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Ministers have previously said they have no plans to change the law because it would be hard to enforce and would be unlikely to alter drivers' behaviour.

MPs debated the issue in Westminster Hall after 102,436 people signed an e-petition backing the change.

The debate was opened by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who called for parity for cats with dogs. She said Britain was a "nation of animal lovers", in which one in four households owned at least one cat.

Cats were a huge part of the fabric of people's lives and the sadness caused by their death on the roads was "only exacerbated by their owners not knowing what has happened", the Gower MP said.

Cats 'do work'

It should not be down to luck or a "good Samaritan" for people to find out, she argued, adding that the government had been wrong to reject a small change in the law "out of hand".

Conservative MP Sheryl Murray said cats should be classed as working animals.

"Don't forget cats often do work, particularly in the countryside where they keep vermin down," she said.

Cats Matter, a group which campaigns on the issue, claims 230,000 cats a year are involved in road collisions across the UK.

It says that, while a quarter of these accidents are immediately fatal, in the other three quarters of cases cats can be saved if they receive emergency veterinary treatment.

Cats Matter co-founder Mandy Hobbis says at the moment the government regards this as a road safety issue, when it should be seen as an animal welfare one.

When drivers do not stop after a collision, cats can be left in the road "crying for help, in pain, in agony, scared", while people walk or drive by thinking "it's just a cat", she says.

Research has found that cats who are young, male and crossbred are most likely to be hit by a car

Ms Hobbis believes cats and dogs are treated differently more generally under the law.

While it has been a legal requirement for owners to get their dog microchipped since 2016, so they can be easily identified, plans to make it compulsory for cat owners to do the same have still to be introduced.

Charity Cats Protection estimates around 2.8m cats in the UK are not microchipped - just over a quarter of the total.

Mr Holden said the government remained committed to bringing in the measure as soon as possible, to make it easier to reunite cats with their owners.

Ms Antoniazzi told MPs microchipping was a "hugely important part of responsible pet ownership" and making it compulsory would send a message that it was vital to looking after a cat.

She also argued that requiring local authorities to log cat road deaths would provide owners with certainty and comfort.

The government initially responded to the petition in February 2022.

A spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: "Having a law making it a requirement to report road accidents involving cats would be very difficult to enforce and we have reservations about the difference it would make to the behaviour of drivers, who are aware that they have run over a cat and do not report it."