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Cat owner receives threatening letter from neighbour over ‘abusive’ collar
The letter also threatened to report the owner for ‘animal abuse’
A cat owner has been forced to turn to the police after her neighbour posted an anonymous letter threatening to take her pet.
Beth German, twenty-one, started letting her six-month-old kitten Elton outdoors two weeks ago and, as a way to warn any birds and animals of his presence, attached a bell to his collar.
However, upon returning to her home in Hazel Grove yesterday (August 15th), Beth was greeted with an anonymous hand-written letter from one of her neighbours, who ordered her to remove the ‘abusive’ bell or face having her kitten ‘rehomed’.
The letter read: “Take the bell off the cat’s collar or I will rehome it and report you for animal abuse.”
Beth German / Facebook
An extra note scrawled on the back of the letter added: “You wouldn’t like it if I did it to you”.
Beth said she has an inkling as to which neighbour posted the letter, noting how she’s had issues with someone stealing her bins and ‘generally being awkward’ in the past.
Her Ring Doorbell also caught the culprit in the act and, while she couldn’t see their face clearly, she said it ‘looked very much like them.’
She told Proper Manchester: “I went straight to the neighbour we’ve had issues with before and she said it wasn’t her, but I’m not convinced.”
To ensure she wasn’t ‘abusing’ her cat with the collar, Beth decided to contact her vet, who reassured her of the safety of collars on kittens and ‘laughed at such a horrendous accusation’.
Beth German / Facebook
She also rang 101 to file a report under ‘malicious threats through the post’, with the police being confused as to why anyone would pen such a letter.
Beth explained: “The police have said to keep doing what I’m doing because I’m not doing anything wrong. They said if they do it again, they’ll come out and talk to them themselves.”
Despite the police’s support on the matter, however, Beth is now too worried to let Elton or her other kitten Etta outdoors out of fear they will be taken.
Greater Manchester Police have been contacted for comment.