Brighton woman's fury after council incinerates her dead cat

Stephanie Lucas said she found out on social media that her one-year-old cat Chowder had been run over and killed and immediately called vets to see if she could find his body.

After being unable to find him, Stephanie called Brighton and Hove City Council to find out if his body might have been collected.

Council workers initially told her his body had been taken to the vets – but it later transpired that it had just been incinerated.

The council later offered her £100 for “the avoidable distress” it had caused her.

Mum-of-four Stephanie, 41, said: “I would have liked my children to have a bit of a send-off for him. They are devastated.

“It was disgusting. Because it happened on a Sunday they didn’t hand his body in to the vets.”

Stephanie, who lives near Preston Park, said she had been informed that Chowder had been run over through a post in a Brighton cat owners Facebook group on Sunday, October 20, and began to call around to find out if his body had been handed in.

After being unable to find him she called the council, which initially told her that Chowder’s body had been taken to a vet to be identified through a microchip.

Stephanie Lucas called the decision for the council to incinerate her cat without telling her 'disgusting' (Image: Stephanie Lucas)

However, after vets could still not find the cat’s body, a council worker later admitted in an email that it had been incinerated at the Cityclean depot in Hollingdean.

Cityclean staff thought they would not be able to take the body to the vets as it was a Sunday - but the council worker later admitted the vets was, in fact, open on Sundays.

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In an email to Stephanie, the council worker said they “would like to offer £100 for the avoidable distress this has caused you”.

The email added: “Whilst I don’t doubt for a moment this will, in no way, reduce the upset this situation has caused, I hope it is at least recognition that the process was not correctly followed and lessons will be learnt from this going forward.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “We would like to apologise for the distress and sorrow we have caused Ms Lucas over the death of her cat.

“We also want to express huge regret around the confusing messages she has received from the council.

“We’d like to clarify that our staff did what they thought was the most humane action after they found the cat with extensive and fatal injuries.

“In normal conditions we take any pet we find intact to a veterinary clinic to scan for a microchip, giving the owner a chance to pick up their pet.

“The streets team who found the cat didn’t realise the vet we normally use would be open on a Sunday and took what they thought was the correct course of action.

“We are ensuring all current and new staff understand what to do in these events.”