Legal responsibility for injuring a cat

paddypaws101

Someone I 'know' on another forum actually witnessed one of her neighbour's hit her cat whilst driving down the road, the woman does not deny this but has proven unremorseful.
The cat seems so far to have sustained only minor injuries, although other issues may come to light.
Leaving aside the moral aspect of this horrible neighbour, what is the legality of the situation?
Would RSPCA or the Police be able to bring any force to bear either on grounds of animal cruelty or damage to property?
Can this other woman be held legally responsible for veterinary expenses ( the cat is not insured )

rising_from_the_ashes

Sorry to hear this Paddypaws & glad puss seems to have only minor injuries - it could've been much worse.

Unfortuantely, there is no legal obligation for a motorist to report injuring a cat - just as a cat owner cannot be legally held responsible for their cat causing an accident (which they could be if their dog did).

I'm not sure of the cruelty aspect - if they were aware they'd hit the cat and didn't stop (esp if they knew who it belonged to) but I suspect it would fall into the realms of the above of not having to report it..... hope the wee one recovers soon.

paddypaws101

Thanks for the reply....the woman was aware that she had hit the cat and does not deny it. I understand that a driver is not obliged to stop if they hit a cat, but can they be held responsible for vet fees?

krlyr

Goes both ways - does the owner of the cat want to accept the legal responsibility of having let a cat run across a road? The car involved may not have been damaged this time but would they accept the legal responsibility had it been written off? What if it had caused a fatal accident? Is the owner of the cat feeling remorseful about the fear they may have put the driver through as she had to slam on the brakes or swerve? You have to accept responsibility both ways, if you don't want your cat hit by a car then don't let it roam where it can run into a road.
I don't believe the driver has broken the law by hitting the cat, whether they've caused suffering to an animal by not rushing it to a vet I don't know. But at the end of the day, the driver didn't choose to have the cat run out into the road and I think the owner has to take responsibility for that.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I don't suppose the woman deliberately went out to drive over the cat. So it was a genuine accident, one for which neither cat nor driver can or should be held responsible.

If my ex had done it, I'd probably try and find some contribution just because it's a horrible thing to happen (maybe buy the cat a comfortable bed to lay on, or a toy), but not because I felt obliged to - or because the cat's owner had demanded it off me.

Accidents happen. That's why some people keep their cats indoors and the rest of us breathe a sigh of relief everytime the dirty stopout saunters back in three hours later than expected, having ignored calls for dinner.



I really don't think it sounds as though the driver has done anything wrong here.

rising_from_the_ashes

paddypaws101 wrote: »

can they be help responsible for vet fees?

Nope - unfortunately not.

Same way a cat owner cannot be held responsible for any costs if their cat causes a crash which results in damage to property / vehicles etc.

Fosterdog

This would be a tough one, where was the cat and what was it doing when it got hit?

I know it may sound stupid but a cat that bolted across the road and got hit may be viewed differently to a cat sat still/washing etc. in a driveway and somebody running it over. IMO the former wouldn't be the drivers fault the latter would.

An example being I once saw a cat get run over, it bolted across a 40mph road and got wiped out, the car didn't stop but I went to check and carry the cat off the road, it died in my arms and I phoned the owners from a number on it's tag. There was nothing the driver could have done to prevent it, although he could have at least had the decency to be the one to take it off the road and make the difficult call to the owners instead of a passerby having to do it. The driver came back 5 mins later and his reason for driving off was that his wife was in the passenger seat and was most upset about what happened and wanted to be taken home.

YorkiePud_3

There's no legal obligation for the driver if he hits a cat and I seem to remember when I was learning to drive, being told by my Driving Instructor that a driver isn't even legally obliged to swerve to miss hitting a cat ... there isn't even a stipulation to swerve "if safe to do so" ... it's just not expected of you, apparently.

paddypaws101

Thanks for all the replies.

TeamLowe

YorkiePud wrote: »

There's no legal obligation for the driver if he hits a cat and I seem to remember when I was learning to drive, being told by my Driving Instructor that a driver isn't even legally obliged to swerve to miss hitting a cat ... there isn't even a stipulation to swerve "if safe to do so" ... it's just not expected of you, apparently.

In fact its considered dangerous driving and i supose therefore punishable to stop or swerve for anything 'less than a human life' as my instructor put it. To do so could endanger the driver behind you. If its a dog or 'bigger' you have to report that you've hit it though x x