Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Girl’s plea to council over eviction of cats
A DUNDEE schoolgirl with autism has written an emotional letter to the city council in a bid to stop her pets — and “only friends” — being evicted from her home.
Chloe Armstrong, 12, a pupil at Morgan Academy, is facing the “heartbreaking” scenario of being parted from her beloved animals.
Mum Lorna, 46, says the family have six cats, a dog and several tropical fish living in the house.
But the council has ordered that most of the animals are evicted due to strict rules surrounding the keeping of pets in council properties.
The Tele understands that the city council has made moves to evict the animals after receiving complaints that up to 13 cats are living in the property and are causing issues for other residents.
Lorna says her daughter, who suffers from severe anxiety and was diagnosed with autism last year, has treated the animals more like friends than pets and will be hit hard if the pets are taken away.
She said: “I spoke with a housing officer and they’ve advised we can now keep only one pet on the premises.
“My daughter is devastated — we now face the heartbreaking scenario of having to part with some of our pets, which are her only friends.
“Chloe treats these animals like her friends as opposed to pets — they are a great comfort to her.
“Due to the fact she doesn’t talk to people, she wrote an emotional hand-written letter to one of the housing officers who visited recently, pleading to keep the animals, but it was dismissed.”
Lorna said that after speaking to housing chiefs, she was told the family was allowed to keep one of the pets due to Chloe’s condition. She added: “When I told her the news, she was devastated.”
“There have been some issues with residents complaining about the number of animals we have and I believe it has been a witch-hunt to have them removed.”
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “The council has a duty to balance the rights of all its tenants, which is reflected in the agreement that each signs before they take up a lease.” Some of Chloe’s cats and her letter to the city council.