“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” – Mahatma Gandhi
In the UK media I often read that the UK prides itself as a nation of animal lovers. I have, as a matter of fact, met many people in the UK who truly love their pets and animals in general. However, this in itself doesn’t make the UK a nation of animal lovers. The UK is in fact very much behind other European nations in terms of animal rights. In Italy and in France, for example, landlords cannot prohibit tenants from keeping pets in their house. In the UK, on the other hand, landlords can and do prohibit tenants from keeping pets in their house. In my own experience looking for a house to rent in the UK in 2014 with two cats, I would say that in more than 90% of the houses pets were not allowed in the property (not to mention that in some houses children were not allowed either). As this article in the Guardian illustrates:
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/jul/27/pet-owners-rented-accommodation
pet owners face a though struggle to find accommodation with pets. The victims are the pets themselves and their owners. Often I’ve seen pets ending up in shelters because their owners couldn’t find rented accommodation. When I was looking for a house to rent for me and my two cats I faced a wall of “sorry no pets” from enquiries to local estate agents. I should stress that telling the estate agents that my pets would not be able to do any damage to the house, telling them that I was willing to leave a large deposit to repay for any possible damage or professional cleaning required to clean the house, preparing a pet CV to reassure them that I was a responsible pet owner who took care of his cats, well, none of this was helpful. I wasn’t looking for anything fancy, just a simple 1-2 bedroom house with a little garden where my cats could play. I ended up renting a room in a landlady’s house who would let me live there with my cats (she had two cats of her own). Others have been less lucky, and it’s very sad to see a 10-12 year old cat left to live his last years abandoned in a small cage in an animal shelter because his owners could not find a house for rent where cats would be allowed. It’s not only sad, it’s also completely unjustified from a rational point of view, having lived with cats for several years I totally fail to understand what kind of damage can a small cat cause in a house.
House rentals are not the only issue that pet owners face in the UK. Coming in and out of the country with a pet is another hurdle. In the rest of Europe traveling with a pet on an airplane is not an issue (most air travel companies, with the notable exception of low-cost air travel companies allow this). Depending on their size pets can board in the cabin with their owner, or they can be carried in a special cargo hold compartment with proper heating. In the UK pets are not allowed to board in the main cabin on any plane. Pets can board some cargo flights, but these are not the same flights where passengers can travel. In other words, your pet can’t travel in the same flight with you, either in the cargo or in the cabin. Again, I see no good reason why pets should not be allowed to travel on an airplane cabin with their owners. If this is possible in the rest of Europe, why should it be banned in the UK?