CatsProtectionplea
Dear Editor,
The Scottish Council Elections are just around the corner and we are encouraging everyone in North Lanarkshire to vote for good mental health for all.
Our mental health is shaped by our environment and experiences. We need strong leadership to build ‘Wellbeing Communities’ that support us to thrive with good mental health.
Councillors are in a powerful position to influence the facilities, services and public spaces in our communities that can help determine whether we feel safe, connected and supported.
That’s why we’re asking local council candidates to commit to actions to help deliver good mental health for all.
These include making sure that every council department considers public mental health when making decisions, providing community groups with funding to provide support that people need, ensuring we all have access to quality green spaces and also that children and young people have access to a variety of sport and leisure activities free of charge.
Read more about it at www. mentalhealth.org.uk/wellbeingcommunities
The choices councillors make affect the mental health of you, your family and your community.
On May 5 make sure you vote for the candidates that you trust will work hard to build a Wellbeing Community for all. Keith Rae, Policy and Public Affairs Officer, Mental Health Foundation
GoodMentalHealth
Dear Editor,
With kitten season nearly here, Cats Protection is releasing a documentary highlighting the potentially tragic risks of buying underage kittens online from unscrupulous sellers who put profit before welfare.
The Big Kitten Con, narrated by Caroline Quentin, features traumatic accounts of kittens being sold at less than the legal age for commercial sale, which is eight-weeks, and sadly dying from debilitating illnesses.
Last year, 340,000 of the 500,000 cats that were purchased in the UK were found online on websites like Facebook, Gumtree, Pets 4 Homes and Preloved.
Though many sellers are responsible people, there are unscrupulous individuals who will exploit the anonymity of the internet to sell kittens that have been taken from their mums too young, denying them vital nutrients and social development, while passing them off as healthy, eight-week-old kittens.
As well as giving advice, we are encouraging the public to sign a petition calling on the Government to regulate cat breeding.
It has just been introduced in Scotland and we would like to see England, Wales and Northern Ireland follow suit.
We want anyone who breeds two or more litters of kittens in a year to be licensed, which would make them subject to regular inspections.
To watch Cats Protection’s The Big Kitten Con video and to sign Cats Protection’s petition, please visit our website at www.cats.org.uk/kittencon
Madison Rogers, Acting Head of Advocacy & Government Relations, Cats Protection
Thursday, May 5, it is important to emphasise the vital role councils play in helping blind and partially sighted people to live as independently as possible.
People with a visual impairment are more likely to depend on services from their local council.
They turn to the council for information that’s readily available in alternative formats, public transport that’s accessible, streets and thoroughfares that allow people to walk safely and without obstacles, education that allows every child to reach their full potential, and employment that’s informed by a better understanding of what those with sight loss can do.
Currently there are around 178,000 people are currently living with a significant degree of sight loss in Scotland.
Over 4,000 of these are children and young people.
Our ageing population and the increase in sight-threatening conditions such as diabetes means this number will, inevitably, grow over the years.
Let’s make one positive legacy of the upheaval we’ve all been through a resolve to make sure we re-emerge as a society in which no one is left at the margins.
Our local authorities are absolutely key to this.
James Adams, Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) Scotland
HelpfortheBlind