Having piloted the Animals (Low Welfare Activities Abroad) Act 2023 through the House of Lords (see here), Guy helped steer another vital piece of animal welfare legislation onto the statute book just before the General Election was called.
The Pet Abduction Act 2024 – first introduced into Parliament by Conservative MP Anna Firth - creates two new criminal offences of the taking or detaining of a dog and the taking of a cat from someone’s lawful control.
At the Bill’s Second Reading, Guy – who is a Patron of International Cat Care - explained why the change to the law is so important:
“At the moment, the taking, abducting or detaining of someone else’s beloved pet is classified alongside the theft of mere objects, such as a garden tool, a pair of cufflinks or a smart phone.
"It is treated in law under the Theft Act 1968 and the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 in exactly the same way and is punished in the same way. Yet the abduction of a pet is absolutely not the same because pets are not mere property. We do not have an emotional bond with a power tool that someone steals from the garage. A watch being stolen may be annoying, but it does not destroy a family’s life. If a thief takes your laptop, it is upsetting, but you do not lie awake at night in pain and anguish or look out your window every day, possibly for the rest of your life, wondering where it is and how it is being treated.”
He added:
“In short, there is a stark gap between how the law views and values domestic animals and how the public does. The devastating impact that animal abduction has on pets and people needs properly to be reflected in criminal law, and that is what the Pet Abduction Bill does. For the first time, the law will recognise the profound difference between pets as sentient beings and inanimate objects.”
The full text of the debate is here.
The Bill, which has cross-party support, became law in May 2024, and has been welcome by charities across the animal welfare sector.
ENDS
