Feline good! Petition victory for cat campaigners

Wednesday 06 March 2019

Campaigners working to stamp out ‘hit and runs’ involving cats are ‘feline’ fine today after their fight for equal rights for the animal hit a key milestone.

Their petition stating that islanders should be obliged, by law, to report hitting cats with a vehicle last night gained 5,000 signatures – enough for States Members to consider it for debate.

It was set up by cat lover and campaigner Sandra Jasmins, with the backing of island group ‘Equal Rights 4 Cats’ and soon became the first ever petition to hit 1,000 signatures, triggering a government response.

Pictured: The petition ticked over 5,000 shortly before 18:00.

But the attempt to make cats and dogs equal under the eyes of the law did not gain political favour, with Infrastructure Minister Deputy Kevin Lewis declaring that the family pets were “already well provided for in the Jersey Highway Code and Animal Welfare Law.”

He added that changing the law could be seen as “heavy-handed” and would place an “extra burden” on the Police.

In the face of this resistance – and with fewer than 4,000 signatures on Tuesday morning – it looked as though the campaign may have been scuppered as the petition entered its last day before closing yesterday.

But one last paw-litical push saw it get over the 5,000 mark minutes before 18:00 last night. By midnight, when it went offline, it had reached 5,370 signatures.

It is only the second ever e-petition to clear this hurdle, and be considered for debate by politicians. A date for debate is expected to be set within a day.

Sandra told Express that she “couldn’t believe the support” her petition had received.

On Monday, she said she was feeling disheartened. “I went to bed after posting a message to everyone saying I was sorry I hadn’t done enough, but everyone just pulled together… The signatures kept coming and we are over 5,000!”

Pictured: Binky the cat thanks those who signed the petition. (Sandra Jasmins)

She added: “I’m so lucky to have an amazing team. It wouldn’t be possible without them. They have not stopped until we got the 5,000 signatures.”