Link to news article

A pet cat has been ordered to report for jury duty, despite being "unable to speak and understand English".

If the matter was not resolved, Sal the cat would have to report to Suffolk Superior Crown Court in Boston, United States, on March 23.

Owner Anna Esposito said she had told authorities that Sal could not speak or understand English. The cat's vet had even written a letter explaining that Sal was a "domestic short-haired neutered feline".

"Sal is a member of the family so I listed him on the last census form under pets, but there has clearly been a mix-up," Mrs Esposito said.

"When they ask him guilty or not guilty? What's he supposed to say - meow?"

Mrs Esposito said Sal was not suitable for jury duty because he could not understand English, one of the 10 statutory disqualifications preventing people from serving.

Her husband, Guy, said the summons for juror service was a surprise.

"I said, 'Sal, what's this?' I was shocked," Mr Esposito said.

"He likes to sit on my knee and watch crime shows with me but even so he's still under-qualified for jury duty if you ask me."
It is understood that Sal was inadvertently included on the juror list when paperwork was misread at the last census.


LMAO. This so made my night.

Hey, Sal was brushing up on some knowledge while watching crime shows. Sounds like he wants to do it. lol I love that they had the vet write a letter!

You list pets on the census?

Not that I was aware of.. lol

Okay, then these people are clearly idiots.
I don't know why I'm surprised someone did this, really.

What I'd like to know, is how many people wrote down PETS as people living in a household on their census. The numbers are probably completely off from these people.
Guess the next census needs to have "DO NOT LIST PETS AS A MEMBER OF YOUR HOUSEHOLD" on the next one.

It says the person listed the cat under "PETS" on the census...maybe the Australians seriously have an option to list pets on the census?

Oh I completely missed the "under pets" part of that sentence ;D
But still, why is that even relevant to the census?

Dude, I don't make the rules! lol.

All I know is that if I start getting mail for "Mordecai" I'm gonna start freakin' out!

No, we don't. And it's an article about an American court...

Whoopsy. I just saw the "au" in the link and got confuzzled. Either way. Weird.

Okay, I love love my cats but I did not list them on any census. I don't even recall a line asking about pets. Weird how he is being pulled for Jury Duty.

Weird. When I filled out the Census, I didn't see anything about pets.

There isn't anything about pets on the Cenus. Either this story is a fake, or someone was idiotic enough to list their pets as part of their family.

And believe me, I wouldn't put it past more than a few people to do something retarded like that.