Wiltshire woman calling for fatal dog attacks on pets to become an offence
Jess Rozee's cat Kitty was killed outside her home in May by a dog not on a lead
A Wiltshire woman has created a petition to make it an offence for a person's dog to kill another pet and for owners to be held to account.
Jess Rozee is making the call after her cat, Kitty, was killed outside her home by a dog not on a lead in May, with the distressing scenes captured on CCTV.
The dogs owners appeared several minutes later, appearing not to attempt to contact anyone about what had happened, before scooping up their pet and carrying it away.
While the incident was reported to police, they were unable to help, leading to the petition's creation.
Since being set up on 2nd July, the petition already has over 3,700 signatures.
Jess says that the loss of her pet is still affecting her.
She said: "It still plays in my mind constantly about how he passed and how it could have been avoided and it's even got to the point where I'm like, losing sleep sometimes, I'll wake up and I'll check the petition to see if it's gone up.
"It's just horrendous, I can't put it into words the pain. It's like losing a family member and going through all that grief. I wouldn't wish it on anyone because it's just horrific."
Jess' petition calls for more responsible ownership and to make the Dangerous Dogs Act tougher.
"There's a lot of things that factor into like why we're doing this, but the main thing is for sensible ownership of of animals. And you know, if dogs are on leads, it's just it's safer for everyone," she said.
Jess told us that it could have been a child being attacked, with a toddler seen in the CCTV footage nearby.
With her petition fast approaching 4,000 signatures, Jess called the support "incredible".
"It feels incredible that there are like minded people and that we're not alone in thinking that this should be brought in as a law," she said.
Jess said it makes her feel a strong sense of community: "We're just over the moon and it genuinely means so much to us that, you know, people have been so supportive."
The petition can be seen here, and requires 10,000 signatures for a Government response.