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That’s roughly 5 dogs taken from their homeowners on daily basis.
These statistics not solely spotlight the alarming numbers of canine thefts but additionally emphasise the emotional misery for households and their beloved pets.
Each stolen canine represents not only a lack of property, however a lack of companionship, belief, love and safety. These numbers present the pressing want for joint efforts to lift consciousness, implement stronger laws, and empower pet homeowners with the information to guard their furry pals from such devastating incidents.
James Whitten, Marketing Manager at petGuard, stated: “It is every pet owner’s worst fear. The thought of our beloved pets being stolen from us doesn’t bear thinking about but is a nightmare that more and more pet owners are experiencing.”
Pet insurer petGuard needs to unfold consciousness concerning the surge in canine theft and new legal guidelines being launched to sort out this ongoing subject.
Dog theft has been on the rise within the UK
In 2023, there have been 2,290 instances of canine theft recorded throughout the UK. This marks an alarming six per cent improve in comparison with the earlier yr.
Sadly, solely a small variety of stolen dogs have been reunited with their homeowners. It highlights the pressing want for motion to handle the rising drawback of canine theft and enhance the possibilities of pets being returned to their households.
What will the brand new legislation do to sort out canine theft?
Under the proposed modifications, the federal government will introduce a brand new ‘pet abduction’ offence which can imply that pet theft is not handled as lack of property. Instead, the brand new Pet Abduction Bill legislation exhibits that pets imply way more to their homeowners than property.
According to GOV.uk, beneath the proposed Pet Abduction Bill people convicted of pet theft might be sentenced to a most of 5 years together with a financial penalty.
This new legislation was offered to the House of Commons in December 2023 and its second studying took place in January this yr.
The new Pet Abduction Bill can even seems to be to make figuring out and monitoring instances of pet theft simpler by introducing new microchipping necessities for dogs and making microchipping obligatory for cats too.
Nearly 10,000 dogs have been reported stolen (9,954) to UK police forces since 2019, and 1,842 of these had been reported to the Metropolitan Police Service in London, the place a mean of 368 thefts are recorded annually.
Highlighting canine theft sizzling spots, safety retailer Safe.co.uk despatched FOI requests to the 45 police forces throughout the UK, asking for the variety of dogs that had been reported as stolen of their constituencies during the last 5 years.
In West Yorkshire, 727 canine thefts between 2019 and 2023.
An estimated 57 per cent of UK households have a pet, and to stop homeowners from struggling the ache of getting one stolen, Anthony Neary, managing director of Safe.co.uk has offered three important items of security recommendation:
Lighting – Security lights present a deterrent because the home-owner can be alerted to exercise round their property. An intruder is more likely to focus on a home in darkness as a result of they’ll comfortably get away unnoticed. Take this additional with a Wi-Fi linked digicam or doorbell as this offers you an opportunity to behave must you spot any uncommon exercise.
Hire sitters or walkers – The presence of somebody in a property might delay an opportunistic thief. A canine walker additionally gives this safety as somebody can be seen across the property and out with the canine. With many thieves being chancers, this can be a nice technique to maintain furry pals secure.
Garden boundaries – Ensure your backyard is safe to stop a canine from escaping or being stolen. High fences are greatest and match gates or outside kennels with British Standard locks or padlocks so as to add further layers of safety.
