More on KentOnline
A cat owner has spoken of her heartbreak after her pet was allegedly thrown on a bonfire after being run over and killed.
Kelly-Ann Glaister spent several weeks, and £300 on posters, searching for five-year-old Milan went he went missing.
The 39-year-old, from Watling Street, Gillingham, said: “A lady rang me and said she’d seen Milan laying on the side of the road by my house.
“She said a guy came along and took him away. I found out who he was and asked him what he’d done with Milan’s body.
“He initially said he’d put him on a bonfire but refused to let me check. I just want an answer to just what happened to my cat.”
Miss Glaister is now calling for a change in the law so drivers who run over cats have to report it to the police, like they do when they hit a dog.
Under current rules, a driver must call the police if they hit a dog or livestock such as horses, cattle, cows, pigs, goats, sheep or donkeys, whether the animal has been killed or not.
Under the Road Traffic Act, they must stop and give their details to the pet’s owner or report the incident within 24 hours.
Although they are not covered by the law the government advises the public to report a deceased cat to the local council, as they would with wild animals such as badgers and foxes.
Miss Glaister said: “People love their cats exactly the same as their dogs, so the law should be the same too.”
She is backing a change.org campaign which calls for the same to apply to cats so it gives families closure, or time for the cat to receive emergency care.
She is being supported by Natasha McPhee from Animals Lost and Found in Kent.
Miss McPhee started the charity after her cat Blu went missing and she was told she’d been seen being put into a council vehicle.
Despite Blu wearing a tag saying “I am microchipped” she was unable to find out what had happened to her body.
Natasha, 32, said: “It’s the not knowing that hurts the most. At the moment the public don’t really have any faith that the authorities will check for chips on cats even though they suppose to, we always do that.”