Bin men dumped our cat in landfill Family couldn’t give beloved pet pr oper send-off

A FAMILY are distraught after their dead cat was picked up in the road by binmen and whisked away to landfill.

Beth Davies and her daughter Kez had wanted to have five- year- old Kelloggs cremated after learning on Facebook that he had been run over.

But their heartbreak turned to anger when they discovered the ginger tom had been carted away with household rubbish despite being microchipped.

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claim thousands of pets killed on the roads end up in landfill without owners’ knowledge because councils fail to check for identity chips. They are calling for a law to stop town halls disposing of dead pets “like pieces of rubbish”.

Mum-of-four Beth and daughter Kez, 22, spent nearly a week trying to find out what happened to Kelloggs after he was run over near their home.

They even went to their local recycling centre to look for him after being told his remains had been taken away by council binmen. Beth, of Wigan, Greater Manchester, said: “He went missing on a Thursday and we went on Facebook to see if anybody had found him.

“We got in touch with this girl who told us there was a ginger cat, which was ours. He was f ound behind our garden fence and he was run over. Unfortunately for us it was bin day and the streets get cleaned in case the binmen have dropped any rubbish.” Beth learned Kelloggs had been put into the back of a caged van with sacks of refuse swept up from the gutter.

She said: “It was a Thursday it happened and I only found out the following Wednesday after we kicked up a fuss. The council did admit there’s a procedure in place but they didn’t follow it. The cat should have been scanned and gone to a freezer for a week. If nobody claims it, it is cremated.”

An estimated 235,000 cats are knocked down and killed each year. The campaign group Cats Matter believes thousands end up in council landfill sites.

Co- founder Mandy Lowe says all councils should have a legal duty to scan dead pets found in the street so owners can be reunited.

She said: “The councils come along and collect the ‘roadkill’ as they call it. That’s what upsets people – they’re disposing of them like rubbish.”

Mandy, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, started her campaign after her own cat – which had been microchipped – ended up dumped in a landfill site.

Her group now provides scanners to councils so they can check ownership.

She added: “At the moment there is no national policy. Councils can do whatever they want. Owners search for months because they want closure.”

The charity Cats Protection said: “Ideally we’d like all councils responsible for roads to scan cat accident victims and inform the owners. However, we appreciate councils have many demands on their resources and budgets.”

Sensitive

A Local Government Association spokesman said: “Councils are sensitive to pet owners. They will, where possible, scan cats for microchips. However, unlike dogs, which by law must be microchipped, many cats are not.”

Wigan Council said: “Unfortunately on this occasion the procedure wasn’t followed. Staff have now been reminded of our procedure. We have apologised to the owner and would like to offer her a £100 donation to an animal charity of her choice in memory of Kelloggs.”