Pleasing 4 Pets

Heartless pet owners have thrown nine rabbits from a car window into the New Forest in Southern England.

A member of the public saw the rabbits being thrown from the silver car in Bartley and was able to rescue 7 of the 9 rabbits, and notified the RSPCA.

The animal welfare charity are concerned the cruel pet owners many have more animals entrusted to their care.

Fears have now been raised that the uncaring pet owners may have other animals in their care.

The car is thought to be a Vauxhall Astra or a Ford Escort.

An inspector from the RSPCA said:-

This was a heartless and brutal act and it is lucky that the animals were not badly injured.

We are concerned that whoever is responsible may have other animals in their care and I would urge anyone with any information about this incident or who recognises the car involved to contact us so we can prevent further animals from suffering.

Many people think domestic rabbits can survive in the wild but they would be very easy targets for foxes and would not have lasted long.”

Six of the 7 rabbits rescued suffered cuts and bruises but unfortunately vets were forced to out the 7th rabbit down due to the extent of its injuries.

The governments’ environmental secretary Hilary Benn has introduced an eight week period of consultation on codes of conduct for the nations owners of dogs, cats and horses, which will provide practical guidelines on the responsibilities that pet owners are required to adhere to under the Animal welfare act of 2006.

He commented:-

“These three new codes of practice will outline the responsibilities under the Animal Welfare Act and give practical advice on how to fulfil them.

“This means no one will be able to claim ignorance as an excuse for mistreating any animal.”

Despite the fact that there are no financial penalties recommended for those who do not adhere to the code of conduct, the fact that pet owners break the code could be used against them in cases of animal cruelty.

Although criminal convictions dropped by 20% throughout 2006, there was an acute rise in the number of complaints investigated and there were nearly 1,700 convictions, many of which were for acts judged as ’shocking’ cruelty by the RSPCA.

The new code of practice states that pet owners are expected to provide their pets with both mental and physical stimulation and include dietary advice, stating:-

“It is your responsibility to provide opportunities for your pet to satisfy all of its behavioural needs, such as play and companionship.”

The UK’s standing as one of the greatest nations of animal lovers in the world received considerable damage recently after a report was released confirmed a massive increase in the number of owners abusing their animals.

The RSPCA revealed that since the launch of the Animal Welfare Act, which was made law in April 2007, the number of persons found guilty of cruelty to animals rose by almost 25% during 2007.

Somewhere in the region of 500,000 pets were found to be in need of help, many of them having been abused, abandoned or neglected in some way.

The Chief Officer of the RSPCA Inspectorate, Tim Wass went on record to say :

“ These animals are helpless victims of our affluent, throwaway society - they’re bought on a whim and discarded when the novelty wears off.”

The disturbing figures also exposed a 34% escalation in the number of those convicted for cruelty towards dogs and a 15% increase in convictions for cruelty towards cats. Cruelty investigations overall totalled just under 500,000, an increase of around 12% on the previous year.

Throughout the course of 2007 a total of 54 people received prison sentences on the grounds of animal cruelty and 861 individuals were prohibited from keeping animals on similar grounds.