[Felvtalk] Cats as "property"

[Amani Oakley]

Lorrie

I completely agree with you, but the law often lags behind the views of society, and if legislators don't push forward these issues, the law can remain mired in the dark ages. As "property", the law only considers animals to be worth their replacement value, period. They don't "deserve respect" in the eyes of the law, because they are the equivalent of a lawn mower or chair. Of course this is totally out of step with the views of most Canadians and Americans, and other nationalities around the world, and there is the occasional judge who recognizes that fact, but you sure can't count on it when starting litigation. In the U.S., it is possible to initiate litigation for significant numbers, claiming punitive or aggravated damages, but I would guess that only in circumstances where a vet has been overtly and deliberately cruel would there be in the potential for someone to be successful in advancing those kinds of heads of damages.

There was a discussion on my legal chatline some time ago, regarding an unpleasant divorce. The husband had promised to look after the wife's cats until she found a place to stay. Instead, he took her cats in to the local shelter. The shelter refused to let the woman know who had adopted the cats, or if they even had been adopted. The lawyer representing the wife was asking the rest of us lawyers, if there was anything he could do in terms of going after the husband for this nasty behaviour, and sure enough, all the lawyers told him that there was no legal basis to pursue damages related to what he had done. I was the only one on my chatline saying that if MY husband EVER handed over my cats during a family dispute, then he had been run and just keep on running. But that's taking the law into my own hands, of course. The courts are unlikely to do much, nor do they have the legal grounds to do something, even if they wanted to do so.

Amani

-----Original Message-----
From: Felvtalk [mailto:felvtalk-bounces at felineleukemia.org] On Behalf Of Lorrie
Sent: October-25-15 8:09 AM
To: felvtalk at felineleukemia.org
Subject: Re: [Felvtalk] Cats as "property"

On 10-24, dlgegg at windstream.net wrote:

> It is a shame that cats and dogs, any animal is "just property". 
> That reduces them to almost 'nothing in the law's eyes.  As property, 
> do they not have any value?  They deserve respect at the very least.  
> Any one tell me my cats are just property and not deserving of love, 
> respect and proper care had better be prepared to run as fast as he 
> can.  Someone once said he would use them for target practice.  I told 
> him he would be lying on the ground next to them.
-
I rescue abandoned cats and kittens and last year I found a calico kitten about 8 or 9 weeks old. She was walking down the street right in the middle of town and this creep saw her at the same time and wanted to feed her to his "pet python". Well you can be sure he didn't get this poor baby. She is still with us, spayed, happy and loved.
-
Lorrie
 

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