Woman bans her dogs from going outside because she keeps finding dead animals

A woman keeps finding dead animals in her garden – and is keeping her cats and dogs inside for their own safety.

Laura Hansen, 59, says she’s found the corpses of a rat and a pigeon in the space of a week.

She previously believed the deaths were connected to a housing development being built behind her home in Newington, Kent, using rodent poison – something the developer has denied.

But mum Laura has now banned her pets -chihuahuas Hunni and Moose, and cats Big Ted and Lucky – from going outside, fearing they could suffer a similar fate.

‘My cats and dogs are now on lockdown,’ she explained.

‘They love going out there every day. If they’d eaten that poisoned rat or pigeon, they would have become poisoned too.

‘It’s made me really wary to keep my animals locked in. I don’t think that’s right.

‘My cats are used to roaming and they’re really struggling being kept indoors.

‘I’ve had to go out and buy cat litter trays and keep the cats inside. Obviously, I can take the dogs out on leads, but I can’t explain to the cats why they can’t go outside.’

She fears the issue could pose a serious threat to pets and wildlife across the village, adding: ‘Cats have a right to roam and they’re used to being out and about exploring.

‘Who’s going to pay the vet bills if something happens? I don’t want anything to happen to them. I have no idea when I’ll be able to let them out again, I’m just so worried.’

Laura, who has lived in the area for 17 years, says there has always been wildlife around her home because her garden backs onto the field where the homes are now being built.

She added: ‘I’ve never found a poisoned animal in my garden before. To find two in one week was horrible

‘When a rat is poisoned it can take days to die. It wanders around and becomes weak, which means it becomes easy prey for other animals.

‘If a fox, a cat or a dog comes into contact with it, that’s where the problem spreads.’

Laura, who runs Angels Hair and Beauty, says she believes more consideration should be given to wildlife displaced by development.

She said: ‘The workers have been lovely.

‘They’re only doing their jobs and I’m not knocking them. But when you’re taking away habitat, all that wildlife has to go somewhere.

‘Rats don’t just disappear. Birds don’t just disappear. Everything gets pushed somewhere else. It’s just hard now not knowing where the poison came from.’

She was also left frustrated after contacting Swale council and Kent County Council (KCC), who she says both told her to double-bag the animals and put them in the bin.

She added: ‘These are potentially poisoned animals. Surely there must be a better way than putting them in the rubbish?

‘I kept them because I thought someone needed to look after them properly, but I then just ended up putting them in the bin.

‘It’s not only my animals I’m worried about, someone else’s dog could go into a garden and find something before the owner even realises it’s there. If anything happened to my dogs or cats because of something like this, I’d be devastated.’

Construction worker Robert Lee, who lives nearby, is worried about the impact the potentially poisoned animals could have on his children.

The 42-year-old said: ‘We haven’t had dead rats in my garden or anything like that. But after finding out about the rats being found, it’s worrying because if they had been on our property on the trampolines where my kids go, then they can spread that poison.

‘There’s no puncture wounds on the dead animals and their eyes are open, I don’t want to speculate but it looks like they’ve been poisoned.’

The Dandara housing scheme, known as Newington Green, was initially denied by the council on pollution grounds but approved on appeal in 2023, prompting fury from villagers who said the extra traffic would put their health at risk.

Regarding concerns about potential poisonings, a spokesperson said: ‘All site clearance and ecological management activities are carried out under the supervision of a qualified ecologist.

‘Any works undertaken are reviewed and approved in advance to ensure they comply with relevant environmental regulations and best practice.

‘Protecting and enhancing the natural environment around our sites is of the highest importance for Dandara.

‘No chemical pest control methods are being used. Where wildlife management measures are required, only humane, ecologist-approved methods are employed. For example, disused mammal burrows may be filled only after a period of monitoring has confirmed that they are no longer occupied, and only with the approval of the supervising ecologist.’

Dandara added that ‘a range’ of ecological protection measures are in place at the Newington development ‘in accordance with planning requirements and strict environmental regulations.’

These include approved habitat, tree and hedge retention plans, as well as species-specific protection measures for wildlife such as bats and newts.

It added: ‘Dandara is committed to supporting and helping biodiversity to flourish across its developments and incorporates features designed to encourage wildlife, including hedgehog highways, bird nesting boxes and swift bricks, which provide safe nesting places for birds to raise their young and shelter for local species.

‘We would like to reassure local residents that there is no risk to local wildlife or their pets from any construction work that is taking place in Newington.

‘All construction and site management activities are carried out in accordance with the strictest of environmental and ecological regulations.

‘Protecting and enhancing the environments in which we build is of the utmost importance to Dandara, and we remain committed to ensuring that our activities are undertaken responsibly and with careful regard for local wildlife.’