LETTER: Licence for air guns will keep our cats safe

In addition to the terrible human deaths and casualties that have been inflicted by indiscriminate use of air weapons, many pets have also been the unfortunate victims of air weapons.

By The Newsroom

Published 24th Nov 2017, 11:57 BST

Updated 12th Dec 2017, 09:10 BST

Cats Protection’s air gun licensing petition has already received more than 76,000 signatures and we would like to thank all of those who have signed the petition.  Cats receive life-changing injuries from air guns which result in things such as limb amputation or loss of an eye.  A 2016 Cats Protection survey of vets found that 46 per cent of reported incidents result in fatalities. We welcome the Government’s intention to review the regulation of air weapons licensing. We are asking the Government to licence air guns in England and Wales, bringing us in line with Northern Ireland and Scotland. Our monitoring shows nearly four cats a week are reported as killed or injured by an air gun in the UK - the actual figure is higher as many remain unreported. We would like to encourage those who haven’t signed up to show their support by going to our website: www.cats.org.uk/airgunspetition

Jacqui Cuff

Advocacy and Government  relations manager,  Cats Protection