A CAT owner is outraged after being fined by the council for putting up 'missing cat' posters.

Lynda Dyson, of Avon Road, in Walthamstow, was delighted when the posters she put up on lamp-posts in the area helped her trace Fluffy – but her joy was short-lived when she was stung by the council's enforcement department for £75.

The teacher said: “I understand that there is a law about posters, but it is a community thing. It was so heart-warming to see how people responded and it helped to get my cat back.

“The council say they have to impose the letter of the law, but this is not like graffiti and it is not advertising, so I wasn't profiting from the posters.

"In a world where there is less and less community spirit, to impose a law and fine me for something like this is horrible.”

When the black Persian cat went missing at the beginning of January, Ms Dyson was frantic with worry, believing “something terrible” had happened to her.

After putting up the home-made A4 sized posters on lamp-posts around Avon Road and Wood Street railway station appealing for information, Ms Dyson received calls from numerous people saying they had seen a woman taking three-year-old Fluffy from near her home.

The woman returned the cat unscathed after seeing a poster and said she wrongly believed the cat was a stray. Ms Dyson said she immediately took down the posters but mistakenly left one up in Bisterne Avenue.

She intends to pay the fine, which was issued under Section 4.3 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act, but thinks the law should be changed.

She said: “Pets are a very important part of people's lives. Without those notices, I would never have got her back.

“I think the council should change the law on this. I don't see it as being anti-social behaviour at all.

"Fluffy is outraged.”

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