‘Pheasant killing’ cats banned from Sandringham, by order of the Queen
THE QUEEN has banned cats from her Sandringham estate over fears they have been killing her game birds.
New tenants wanting to rent one of the 150 cottages and agricultural properties on the 20,000acre estate in Norfolk are warned of a ‘strict no-cats policy’ on the updated Sandringham website.
The Mail on Sunday understands that existing tenants, who are spread over 11 villages, have been allowed to keep their pets.
The estate website strikes a more friendly tone for dogs, saying that they ‘will be considered on house-by-house basis’.
The Queen is a renowned doglover who has kept corgis for much of her life. She is also noted for her devotion to horses.
But it is reported that she does not share the same affection for cats. There have even been claims over the years – including one in Country Life magazine in 2015 – that the Queen is allergic to cats, although this has never been confirmed by Buckingham Palace.
Sandringham managers last week refused to disclose the reason for the no-cats policy, but villagers are convinced it was introduced to cut down on the number of cats stalking young game birds.
The estate, where 97-year-old Prince Philip has been largely based since retiring from public duties, hosts shooting parties which target pheasants and partridges every winter.
Teams of keepers are employed to feed game birds, preserve their habitats and control pests all year round.
The estate won a conservation award at the Royal Norfolk Show earlier this year for boosting the number of grey partridges.
The cat ban was introduced shortly after it was claimed in a parish newsletter that a ‘considerable number of cats’ had disappeared on the estate.
Geraldine Farrow, 59, said she had lost four cats since 2003 when she moved into her home in Flitcham, which backs on to fields owned by the estate.
She claimed that about a dozen cats had gone missing from her street over a two- year period before 2015.
‘We are concerned that something sinister is happening to them,’ she wrote in the newsletter. ‘There has been a lot of shooting over the last few weeks and our worry is that they may have been shot – by accident, hopefully not deliberately.’
A Sandringham spokesman declined to say when the policy restricting cats was introduced or the reason for it, adding: ‘All requests by tenants to keep pets on the Sandringham Estate are reviewed on a caseby-case basis.’
Norfolk Police confirmed that they had received a call expressing concerns about cats going missing in the Flitcham area.
A force spokesman said: ‘The caller was unable to provide any evidence to assist us with any lines of inquiry, therefore we were unable to pursue an investigation.’