From Katie Hooton-Dorey.
ON Wednesday 10 March I was woken up to have my heart broken. My beautiful cat, Princess, had been killed by a hit and run driver outside my house.

I live on a small country lane with a ridiculous 40mph speed limit. I do not know what happened that morning but I can only hope that it was an accident. The fact is that I will never know, as the person had just left her there without any consideration or remorse.

I understand that cats are inquisitive and often do get hit by cars but I feel the least the person could have done is phoned the Animals Shelter, so that they could have come and collected her in the pet ambulance. That way she would not have been left in the cold.

Fortunately my uncle found her quickly after it had happened, some time between 7 and 7.15 am, so I was able to hold her in my arms while she was still warm. If he had not found her at this time this may not have been the case.

In writing this letter my plea is to fellow human beings to have some thought and compassion. Do not treat someone else’s pet the awful way mine has been treated.

Princess was an amazing cat with a fabulous personality and great charm. I do not know if I’ll ever get over losing her, but the whole grieving process has been a lot harder for me as I feel that the person who hit her did not think she was worth caring about.