The Dutch law is failing again...

My dad visited me yesterday and proudly told me he set a mousetrap for the neighbor's cat, and couldn't hold his laughter when he reached the point in his story of how the cat screamed when it stepped on it. He even added that he's planning on catching it a few more times until it learns to stay out of his garden.

I looked at options to file a report and police actually has a dedicated animal abuse department. But the actions they can take are limited to taking custody of an abused animal and forbid an abuser to purchase any other animals. My dad does not own a cat and doesn't want any, so that's not going to make any difference. If police take custody, that's only going to make my dad happy and hurt his neighbors unfairly.

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HootyTheNightOwl

Why does your dad have to be so mean???

Could you contact the neighbour and ask that they keep their cat indoors to prevent further injury to the poor thing???

If he's living alone, his thinking could be enough to get a welfare check on him because he is technically dangerous to himself and others.

NerdyPotato · M

@HootyTheNightOwl I'm not sure I can, or whether that should be a solution. He's been obsessed with that cat in particular for quite a while though, all because it sometimes defecates in his garden.

It started with hissing at it, then spraying water at it if he happened to carry a water bottle when it was sitting in his garden when he got home. Then he started filling his water bottle to do so when he saw it while sitting in his living room and spraying it when it was sleeping across the street.

Actually trying to wound it (and possibly succeeding) is a new low though...