EU Law Bans Cats and Dogs from New Housing Development

Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Cats and dogs are to be banned from a new housing development in Hampshire under European legislation to protect local wildlife. The new 500 home development has been built at the former Farnborough Airfield site which lies just over a mile from the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area . The heath is home to rare species of birds, such as the ground nesting nightjar, as well as Dartford warblers and woodlarks.

Owners have said it infringes their right to keep a pet, while the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has branded it as unenforceable. Environmentalists claim that domestic cats are responsible for the deaths of millions of birds each month. The rule applies to anyone buying or renting a property at the development.

Local people and vets have hit out at the ruling, with Councillor Eric Neale pointing to the foxes and magpies which inhabit the heath and do far more damage than any cat or dog, he claims. Mr Neale was especially critical of the decision to outlaw dogs as pets, highlighting the unlikelihood of any dog roaming over a mile from home to the heath.

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