I've raised £200 to establish a national road traffic accident awareness day for animals which we will use to commemorate, promote and further mobilise action.

Organised by Cats Matter
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England, UK ·Animals and pets

Story

In the UK alone, 630 cats are hit by cars every single day. 25% of which will be fatal. We challenge UK law, and spread awareness to change mind-sets and enlighten people on the best ways to help an injured animal. What we would like now is to establish a national remembrance and awareness day which we will use to commemorate, promote and mobilise action. Our RTA awareness day will be a special time which is recognised nationally as a period to observe the pressing issues of concern. The day will also be a chance to remember the fallen, and for owners of the deceased to remember and pay tribute to lost beloved pets.

Although our campaign centres around cats, we appreciate this is an issue affecting all animals. In Britain, annual road casualties are estimated to account for 100,000 foxes and up to 50,000 deer deaths. 30 million birds are killed on Britain's roads every year yet, based on statistical analysis of those potentially unrecorded, the realistic death rate is estimated to be around 70million. Highways England said 2,143 dead animals were found in 2015 on just 4,300 miles of motorway - accounting for just 1% of the UKs road network. Hedgehogs once topped the death table at 29% of them being killed by cars, that was until they entered on the critically endangered list. Roads are also the largest cause of badger deaths in England with 50,000 being reported each year.

We hope, by the creation of an awareness day, we can coordinate a message which will be shared around the world for all animals. In Brazil alone, an estimated 1.3 million animals die every day after being struck by cars, that's 475 million animals every single year in one country alone - about 15 animals every second. The USA acknowledges that one million animals die every single day on roadways, including 26 million cats annually, and tragically roads are responsible for 50% of Florida Panther deaths! Going even further, to include all species, a Dutch biologist found that 1.6 trillion insects die each year as a result of being hit by cars in the Netherlands, and 32.5 TRILLION in the US. 'Roadkill' is considered to significantly contribute to the population decline of many threatened species, including wolves and koala bears.

We appreciate throwing numbers around like this may be a shock, but we aim it to be a stark wake up call alerting people to, what one senior journalist referred to as, the animal holocaust. We can't stop roads being built, or animals wandering on to them, but we can make people acknowledge what has happened and help the animal, if not help prevent most collisions happening in the first case. You will see the above figures as just numbers. What you should see is, each single number is a soul. Each number had a family, friends, and a life. Each of these numbers would have died a slow, painful and lonely death. Please help us reach our goal of creating an RTA awareness day for all animals, and help us put a stop to the millions of unnecessary and avoidable deaths happening on UK roads each year.

#AnimalsMatter

*Should we go over our target to raise, the money will be used for the CatsMatter campaign to continue spreading awareness, and getting equipment to local councils to get them scanning domestic pets, and getting them sent home where they belong. Find out more at www.catsmatter.org and www.facebook.com/catsmatteruk

About fundraiser

Cats Matter
Organiser

Donation summary

Total
£170.00