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UK pet detective hails new law making abduction of cats and dogs punishable by up to five years imprisonment
24 August 2024, 09:32
Pet Detective Colin Butcher has hailed the introduction of a new law which will see animals “treated as sentient beings rather than objects”.
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Under the Pet Abduction Act 2024 – which comes into force today in England and Northern Ireland – anyone found guilty of stealing a pet will face up to five years in prison, a fine, or both.
The new law recognises that cats and dogs are not inanimate objects but sentient beings capable of experiencing distress and other emotional trauma when they are stolen from their owners or keepers.
The law was passed by the Conservative Government after LBC interviewed the then-Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2021.
At the time she said was “looking at what we can do” to tackle shocking incidents of animal theft and abuse.
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Hailing the Pet Abduction Act, Butcher told LBC: “The law for a long, long time has failed animals.
“Now, if someone takes an animal and mistreats it, the court will consider how much the animal suffered when deciding a sentence.
Grief-stricken owners of a designer dog killed in a hit and run told LBC that pets have been ignored by the law for too long.
The family compared the loss of their pet to the death of a child and have spent thousands on Butcher’s services to get to the bottom of who hit their dog and dumped it a veterinary centre several miles away.
According to the heartbroken owners, the police failed to take their complaints seriously.
If the Pet Abduction Act had been introduced sooner, Butcher told LBC, police would have had more powers to get to the bottom of the dog’s tragic death.
Evidence from the Pet Theft Taskforce revealed around 2,000 dogs and over 400 cat theft crimes were reported to police in 2020, causing considerable distress for owners and their pets alike.
With an estimated 28% of UK adults owning a dog and 24% owning a cat, pet theft is a major concern to the public.
