Your rights during meerkat surveillance

The Meerkat Surveillance Programme is designed to be transparent. You have a number of rights during the surveillance period, as outlined in the Meerkat Surveillance Charter (2024) and the Wildlife Surveillance Act 2024, Section 14, “Provisions Relating to the Dignity of All Parties.”

Your rights

• You have the right to know you are being observed. Meerkats are visible by design. The programme operates on the principle that “overt surveillance builds trust.” If you can see the meerkat, it is working as intended. If you cannot see the meerkat, it is also working as intended, but differently.
• You have the right to request which meerkat is assigned to you. Requests are considered but not guaranteed. You may not specify a meerkat by name, as this has historically led to complications. The Board's annual report references “the naming situation” without further detail, noting only that it resulted in a meerkat in Nuneaton receiving birthday cards from a resident for seven consecutive months.
• You have the right to offer the meerkat water. A small, shallow dish of water may be placed near the meerkat's designated observation post. You do not have the right to offer food. Meerkats on duty are provided with government-standard rations. Hand feeding has previously resulted in a meerkat in Nuneaton refusing to eat anything not served on a small plate. The Department considers this unacceptable.

What you do not have the right to do

You do not have the right to:

• Pet the meerkat
• Photograph the meerkat (the meerkat is observing you, not the other way around)
• Ask the meerkat questions about other properties
• Invite the meerkat indoors (this was added after the Kettering Incident, about which the Department has published a 4-page statement that answers no questions)
• Suggest improvements to the meerkat's surveillance technique (the Board considers this “operational interference” and has, on one occasion, responded with a 6-page document that the recipient described as “deeply passive-aggressive”)

Making a complaint

If you wish to make a complaint about your assigned meerkat or the surveillance programme more broadly, contact the Meerkat Oversight Board in writing. The standard response time is 28 days.