Diana Wallis MEP gives support to 'Pet Manifesto'

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 29th Mar 2001

As a result of research undertaken by MORI amongst Directline's 100,000 pet insurance policy holders, the insurance company has launched the 'pet manifesto' to highlight the primary issues which concern policy holders as pet owners.

Diana Wallis MEP has given her support to the launch of the manifesto.

Diana Wallis MEP said:

"Many of the issues covered in the manifesto have been initiated in the European Parliament, especially the non-commercial movement of pets, so I am very happy to give this my support.

"On a more personal level, the loss of pets especially cats can be a distressing event. It is frequently elderly people who are often dependent on their pets for company and who are hardest hit by the loss of their sole companion.

"It has been a longstanding anomaly that cats are treated differently to dogs. This manifesto goes a long way towards rectifying this anomaly. I wish it every success."

The issues identified by Directline are as follows:

·Kennels and catteries: Directline policyholders are concerned about the standards of many boarding kennels and catteries in the UK. They would like to see improvements to the current licensing regime operated by local authorities so that they can confidently leave their animals in the care of a boarding establishment.

·Pets abroad: Research suggests that many policyholders still have considerable reservations about the scheme and do not fully understand how it operates. We believe that further changes to the scheme are required to make it simpler to use and that further public education is required if the scheme is to become widely used.

·Pet theft: Policyholders are concerned that 'pet theft' is not taken seriously by the authorities and the current penalties in place do not act as a sufficient deterrent. The aim is to raise awareness of the way pet theft is dealt with by the authorities and how the current penalties applied are both insufficient and inconsistent.

·Cost of strays/microchipping/identification: Policy holders are concerned that there appears to be no coordinated approach for dealing with stray animals and that when pets are lost they are not necessarily reunited with their owners. They would like the government to work to make an increased level of microchiping a priority.

·Legal status of cats: At present cats have no legal status in law (they are deemed to be wild animals) and so people are not legally obliged to report any incident involving a cat (as they would if it were a dog). Similarly a stray cay can be put down without efforts having been made to find the owner, unlike the situation for dogs. Policyholders believe that a change in the law is merited to equalise the status of cats and dogs.

If you have any experience or stories to share with Diana Wallis, please get in touch by emailing [email protected]