EASTER Sunday, a beautiful day and the sun shining at last. My daughter's little dainty 15 year-old cat, Posy, sitting in front of their house near Plump Hill just outside of Mitcheldean.
My son-in-law doing jobs around the house, my daughter out for the morning and my granddaughter looking out through the window at Posy enjoying the lovely day.
Outside of the house is a public right of way past the front of the house. Down this path came four people with four dogs. The two big black Labradors off the lead and running ahead uncontrolled. One spied the little cat sitting there and lunged at it, soon joined by the other black snarling brute and the two of them grabbed the little cat, soon injuring it horribly with no intervention by the owners.
My 13 year-old granddaughter screamed and ran out of the house into the middle of this mutilation trying to stop the dogs by screaming and kicking at them. A neighbour leapt from her garden and joined in attempting to save the cat. My son-in-law ran downstairs and outside to finally get the cat away from the dogs and picking her up she died in his arms leaving him covered in blood.
Posy had been with the family since a kitten and was a beloved pet, the most sociable little creature who loved people. My family are devastated by the horrific way her life has ended.
People who own dogs should be given training in accordance with the type of dog they keep. They should have to be granted a licence for owning a dog of a particular type but only after they have had proper training in the characteristics of the animal and how it will behave in particular circumstances.
The granting of ownership of any dog should be dependent on the owner having proved to know how to control dogs in different circumstances. That they are responsible people who understand the rights of others. That they understand dogs and how they behave in packs, how they revert to type if uncontrolled.
The granting of ownership of a particular type of dog should also include the knowledge that the dog will be taken away from the owner if it behaves in an unacceptable way. The death of a cat by a dog or dogs may not be a punishable offence but it should be. A dog is a dangerous beast in the wrong circumstances and those circumstances must always be controlled by the owner.
People vary from intelligent to ignorant, from caring to careless, from responsible to irresponsible and this means that just allowing anyone to own a dog without any controls on that is putting children and pets and wildlife in danger.
We as a family are all traumatised by what has happened, particularly my brave young granddaughter. We loved Posy and now she has gone in the most horrible way.
Think on you dog owners. Do you know how to properly control the type of dog you own. Do you understand dogs and their characteristics at all? Certain types of dogs are probably one of the most dangerous animals we have in this country today – the exception of course being human beings themselves.
Rest in peace beloved little Posy, we'll miss you dreadfully. – Patricia Hodgkinson, Aylburton.