Legal article - cats fouling neighbours gardens

[Mymblesdaughter]

I'm a member of The League Against Cruel Sports and we were talking about this at the AGM on Saturday. It's difficult to get video of whoever carries out the cruelty. Even once you have that evidence, wildlife crime or any crime against animals is very low priority and is only going to get lower with police numbers being cut. That is why the league started up a department that actually do all the work and virtually hand over the ready made case to the police.

They were also saying that wildlife crime figures don't get recorded in their own category. So when it comes to setting a budget, manpower etc for this area they have no figures. So it always considered a low priority. I'm not sure if this is the same with domestic animals but it wouldn't surprise me.       

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

Very good article but there have been many cases reported where the owners know who killed their cat and police are not interested.

Hope my neighbour reaqds this!

[sheilarose]

In all seriousness, it's probably due to lack of evidence, police would need several witnesses or some kind of physical evidence, like a video, to prosecute. Without this the CPS won't touch a case as it's likely to be dismiised at Court.

On the slightly silly side, the word "infuriate" did make me blink. I quite often infuriate Tufty just be looking at him. 

[jezebel]

It's interesting to read that:

Under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 it is a criminal offence to cruelly beat, kick, ill-treat, torture, infuriate or terrify any animal.

and makes me wonder why so many of these criminal offences go unpunished.

[sheilarose]

Found this while researching something else. A short but valuable article that explains the whole sensitive issue of cat trespass, nuisance and rights.

There's also a bit about the laws regarding animal cruelty, quite helpful, I think.

http://www.inbrief.co.uk/animal-law/cats-fouling.htm