Millions of cat owners across the UK could soon be legally required to microchip their pets - for a morbid reason.
The long-awaited law is set to be discussed in Parliament in the coming weeks and MPs are also considering which would require drivers to stop when they run over a cat.
Transport minister Richard Holden said microchipping cats would be the best way to reunite owners with their dead pets.
He claims that requiring pets to be microchipped was a better way of dealing with cat deaths, instead of forcing drivers to report the accidents as this would result in “hundreds of thousands” of reports to police each year.
Mr Holden said: "Cats tend to roam unaccompanied and are likely to go out at night. Drivers also may not realise that they have had a collision with a cat in some instances, or small animals very similar to rabbits or other wild animals, which can also cross roads late at night.
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“There are also hazards associated with stopping to check whether animals are alive or not, especially if they are very small animals.
“Having the law to make a requirement to report road collisions involving a cat would be difficult to enforce, especially when, as members across the House made clear, Petplan have suggested it might be in terms of hundreds of thousands of these incidents being brought forwards a year.
“One of the things we have been really pushing on in the last few years is microchipping as providing the best way for reuniting owners with their pets when they have either been tragically killed, stolen, or a variety of other issues.
“As members across the House pointed out, we do have a manifesto commitment to introduce compulsory cat microchipping and we consulted on this last year.
“We are committed to introducing this and we will be laying the legislation for this in coming weeks for England, and I hope that devolved administrations will follow closely, as this is a devolved issue both in Wales, and in Scotland, and in Northern Ireland.”
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi opened the Westminster Hall debate on the petition, which called on the Government to add cats to an existing list of animals which drivers must stop and report if they hit them while using their vehicle.
Ms Antoniazzi said many people considered cats “as part of the family”, adding: “This, alongside their independent natures, inquisitiveness and aloofness has helped them to be one of our favourite pets.
“Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, section 170, drivers are required to stop and report incidents of hitting a horse, cattle, ass, mule, sheep, pig, goat or dog.
“The act as it is reflects an understanding of animals having a financial value attached to them as livestock or as working animals. As such, cats are not covered by the act.
“But Olivia, our petitioner, and organisations including Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and the Blue Cross want this to change. Because there is currently no legal requirement to report, we simply do not know how many cats are killed by vehicles.”
She urged ministers to “make good on their promise to make a legal requirement for cats to be microchipped” as this would send “a vital message that it is an integral part of looking after a cat ”.
