The UK Government has declined to introduce a legal requirement for drivers who hit cats to report the incident and take the animal to a vet. The decision follows a petition signed by over 10,000 people, which closed after reaching the threshold for a government response.
Under current law, drivers must report collisions involving specified animals such as horses, dogs, and livestock, but cats are not included. The Department for Transport stated that there are no plans to amend the Road Traffic Act 1988 to add cats, citing the difficulty of enforcement due to cats' small size and activity patterns at dawn and dusk.
The government acknowledged the emotional impact of losing a pet and encouraged drivers to make enquiries to locate owners if possible. It highlighted the introduction of compulsory cat microchipping in June 2024 for cats over 20 weeks old in England, aimed at reuniting lost pets with their owners.
Additionally, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has commissioned research into the operational challenges of reuniting cats with owners after road traffic collisions, with the goal of informing best practices for local authorities.
