Pleasing 4 Pets

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.