NEWS AND COMMENT – UK: The Pet Abduction Bill is being debated in the House of Commons at Parliament which if passed will make the theft of cats and dogs a specific criminal offence in England Wales and Northern Ireland. Comment: this must be a response to what some might regard as a surge in pet thefts in Britain after the pandemic. More cats and dogs were adopted and more cats and dogs were stolen. Perhaps the two are linked. It is also a response to the need for the law to treat animals as sentient beings and not inanimate objects as they are under the current Theft Act 1968.
There was certainly a surge, too, in puppy and kitten mill breeders selling companion animals in a less than optimal condition in terms of socialisation and health.
Under this new proposed legislation anyone convicted of the offence of theft would face a fine and/or a maximum prison sentence of five years.
The BBC reports that government ministers are “very sympathetic” to the proposals.
This would be a quite important change to the current law which has been in place for very many years namely that cats and dogs are regarded as “chattels” to use an old-fashioned word, which means that they are no different to any inanimate object possessed and owned by a person. This does companion animals a disservice.
Stealing a companion animal has a much more dramatic emotional impact on the owner than stealing an inanimate object.
Which is why, currently, if a cat or dog is stolen and the criminal apprehended, they are prosecuted under the 1968 Theft Act.
The current government’s mandate was to make the abduction of dogs a criminal offence. Measures were made to incorporate the change in law in the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill. This was dropped by ministers in May 2023. Animal advocates objected to this.
A pet theft task force was set up and the then Home Secretary, Prit Patel, said at the time: “Stealing a pet is an awful crime which can cause family’s great emotional distress whilst callous criminals line their pockets.”
She said – and many would agree – that changing the law would recognise the fact that animals “are far more than just property and will give police an additional tool to bring these sickening individuals to justice”.
At the moment stealing a companion animal is a low priority crime. And it is a low risk and high reward crime because the police often don’t investigate. Do they ever investigate? This distressing state of affairs is a reason why the Pet Abduction Bill as it is called has been introduced by Conservative MP Anna Firth.
Like many others, she finds it “unbelievable that we treat the loss of a living creature, a member of our family, as if it is a power tool or a laptop”.
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