As such, having a canine go lacking, and even stolen, is a heartbreaking and extremely tense expertise for the homeowners and households affected, much more so for probably the most susceptible members of society and those that rely upon their pets for emotional or bodily help.
Nevertheless, regardless of the intense emotional influence, the kidnapping of a canine is usually handled no extra critically than the theft of a family commodity reminiscent of a cell phone or a laptop computer, as a result of pointless weighting on the financial worth reasonably than the emotional implications of the crime.
In Scotland, the kidnapping of a canine comes beneath the frequent regulation offence of theft, which could be outlined in broad phrases as theft when an individual has taken and saved property with out the consent of the rightful proprietor. As well as, it should be clear the one that took the property did so with the intention of depriving the one that is the rightful proprietor.
In 2021, the UK Authorities introduced plans to introduce a particular felony offence for individuals who steal canines, which might be applied throughout England and Wales. This adopted suggestions from the Authorities’s Pet Theft Taskforce with proposals to create a brand new ‘pet abduction’ offence to raised mirror the severity of the crime and recognise the welfare issues; gather extra dependable knowledge on the crime to construct a stronger proof base on the difficulty; work with microchip databases to establish and monitor stolen canines; and deal with the concern of the crime, elevating consciousness about measure homeowners can take to maintain their pets secure.
This announcement marked a major step ahead in canine welfare, however sadly leaves Scotland behind with out particular offences to deal with canine abduction that may view the crime as an animal welfare problem reasonably than property theft.
As such, Maurice Golden, MSP for North East Scotland, has launched a session to create a brand new statutory offence to deal with the issue of canine theft and different conditions the place a canine is taken or saved with out lawful authority. The sentiments of canines and canine welfare could be thought-about as a part of the offence.
The Kennel Membership wholeheartedly helps this session, and hope many canine homeowners will reply to make sure their views are represented. We now have lengthy campaigned on the difficulty of pet theft, lobbying for sentencing to recognise the emotional worth of a canine and for higher reporting and recording from officers in order that underlying causes of canine theft could be tackled.
We additionally launched our Paw and Order marketing campaign through the pandemic, which additional illustrated the necessity for reform. Freedom of Info requests to each police drive within the UK revealed that, shockingly, solely 6% of pet theft instances between 2015 and 2020 resulted in motion being taken in opposition to a suspect.
We had been happy to see the UK Authorities announce the transfer in the direction of introducing a particular felony offence in England and Wales. Nevertheless, we need to see these protections prolonged to canines nationwide and implore canine homeowners in Scotland to reply to this session and make their voices heard.
Dr Ed Hayes is Head of Public Affairs at The Kennel Membership
