A DEAF woman has spoken of her anger after an animal refuge said she would not be able to look after a cat.

Blackburn Cat Rescue told Emma Stevens she was not a suitable person to give a cat a home because she would not be able to hear when it needed attention or was in pain.

Emma said she wanted a pet to share her Accrington flat after her last cat Oscar died of leukaemia.

But the training officer, 27, was left angry and frustrated by the refusal. She said: "I contacted the refuge via a Typetalk phone to ask whether there were any cats suitable for myself requiring a loving home.

"Their response was that I could not possibly have a cat due to my deafness. I had to check my minicom to ensure what I was reading was correct. I explained that I felt offended by this."

Now Emma plans to find a cat from another source but insisted her plight needed to be highlighted. She added: "Do they think I would be incapable of looking after a child? This is just preposterous. Any deaf person can can care for an animal just as well as a hearing person.

"I find it very distressing that as we approach 2004 there are still many people with discriminatory attitudes."

A Disability Rights spokesman said: "We think it's outrageous to suggest that disabled people are not able to take care of pets in the same way that anybody else is and don't understand why they have denied Miss Stevens access."

The RSPCA said it judged each case on its own merits and deaf and blind people could adopt pets if they met their criteria.

But Eunice Faulkner, who runs Blackburn Cat Rescue, said: "All applications are taken on merit. If someone living on their own is deaf they would not be able to hear when the cat wanted to go out or when it was in pain.

"A deaf person would not be able to interpret the needs of the cat. I know they may feel they are being discriminated against but the cat comes first."

Eunice Faulkner, 64, a former teacher, said her experience of working with deaf children meant she was well placed to judge."